About 5,300 years ago, painted pottery began to decline in both quantity and decorative complexity. Instead of serving as everyday household ware, it gradually became associated with ritual and ceremonial practices, appearing mainly in elite burials as symbols of status and social hierarchy.
"By the second Miaodigou phase and the Taosi period, painted pottery had largely disappeared from daily life," Wu says. "Most ordinary vessels were made of gray pottery, while painted pottery became closely linked to ritual activities and high-status tombs."
The exhibition also includes artifacts from museums in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Hebei province, highlighting extensive cultural exchanges between the Fenhe River Basin and the central and southern regions of Inner Mongolia, as well as northern Henan province and southern Hebei during the Yangshao period.
Archaeologists believe the finely crafted vessels were probably not everyday household objects but were instead created for ceremonies, religious rituals and other significant communal occasions.
A miniature diorama on show re-creates a typical middle Yangshao settlement. It depicts a community protected by inner and outer moats and divided into residential, workshop and livestock areas. It illustrates how people made pottery, raised silkworms, farmed, fished, and hunted. Smaller buildings served as homes, while larger structures were likely used for communal gatherings and rituals. "The model is not a reconstruction of the Xiyin site itself," Zheng says. "It is based on our broader understanding of Yangshao society."
