TUNG KWU ISLAND
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and used throughout the time when the site was occupied by Neolithic men.
3. Hard Pottery:
Two specimens of hard pottery were also discovered: one without ornament and resembling in shape and size part of a joint of bamboo; the other bearing a 2-line net pattern of horizontal rhombs intersecting at 30°, and with a raised rhombic stud in each mesh. The former lay at two levels, having been broken; one piece was at 92cm., the other at 122cm.: the probability is that the former was nearer the original depth of deposition than the latter. I suspect it may be a later importation which got into the deposit in the course of grave-digging. The other specimen was loose on a ledge of sandy cliff high up in sector C, and is obviously early. No other specimen like it was found, nor do I know of any similar piece from any Hong Kong site. It was most likely an import from elsewhere, brought in when the site was occupied.
This second pot has a hard, dark gray body; its neck is smooth, rising abruptly from the body and narrowing slightly upwards; the mouth is broken away. The measurements are as follows:
Diameter of pot at base of neck, 10 cm.
Diameter of pot at lowest portion of body fragment, 16 cm. Maximum height of surviving piece of neck, 3.5 cm.
The curving outline of the body fragment shows that the greatest diameter of the entire pot did not exceed 17 cm., and the presence of ornament right up to the base of the neck makes it unlikely that the maker intended it to have its mouth covered by a bowl, as many vessels clearly were. The only signs of turning visible on the fragments are on the neck, inside and out; this feature is common on the necks and lips of high-fired pottery of the Bronze Age, but is rarely seen on the bodies, which generally show the thumb impressions caused by the ribbon technique of pottery making. Similar impressions can be made out inside the fragment of the body, though they are not very clear.
C.
HISTORIC AND RECENT POTTERY
There are wide differences between these types of pottery and the ancient material so far dealt with; the most marked being that every piece of the newer productions found on this site