China has some of the world’s oldest civilisations, great clans and societies of people who contributed to the country’s development.
Ancient architecture and evidence of settlements are scattered across the country, much of it still being uncovered.
More recently, a team of archaeologists working at the Peiligang site in the city of Xinzheng, in the central Chinese province of Henan found a relic considered to be the oldest of its kind.
The artefact, a 7,000-year-old bottle, has an unusual shape, with a small mouth and a pointed bottom.
It is, they believe, characteristic of the Yangshao culture, a little-known society that existed during the Neolithic period.
The Yangshao originated in the middle reaches of the Yellow River between 5,000 and 7,000 years ago, and are thought to have been a vital culture in China.
Evidence suggests they played a vital role in the development of Chinese civilisation.
The ancient bottle likely had a variety of functions, including collecting water, fermenting drinks or depositing offerings.
According to Li Yongqiang, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences quoted by the Xinhua news agency, the bottle is about 7,700 years old, according to a preliminary estimate.
Measuring more than 10 centimetres long and extremely compact, it is much smaller than anything found before it.
Li said the find provides “new and crucial material evidence” for studying the origin of the ancient Yangshao culture.
Given recent discoveries that the Peiligang people already knew how to use yeast to ferment and make wine, the archaeologist said it is possible that the bottle was used for a similar purpose.
Researchers also discovered a large number of late Palaeolithic stone artefacts, ostrich eggshell fragments, pieces of red iron ore and other objects at the same site.
