ENG-1992 — Page 454

HISTORY

fragile pottery decorated with incised lines, perforations and occasionally painted. Chipped and polished stone tools are also present. Current indications suggest a 4th millennium BC date for this initial phase.

Cord-marked pottery and chipped stone tools continue as long-lived traditions into the higher, later levels in which appears a new ceramic form decorated with a wide range of impressed geometric patterns. In this phase, beginning in the mid-3rd millennium BC, polished stone tools show better workmanship and a proliferation of forms, some with steps and shoulders, features probably connected with improvements in hafting techniques. Ornaments such as rings, some slotted, in a range of sizes were also made, sometimes with exquisite craftsmanship, from quartz and other suitable stones.

The final phase of Hong Kong's prehistory is marked by the appearance of bronze at about the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. Bronze artefacts do not seem to have been in common use, but fine specimens of weapons, swords, arrowheads and halberds, and tools such as socketed axes and fish hooks have been excavated from Hong Kong sites. There is evidence, too, from Kwo Lo Wan on Chek Lap Kok and Tung Wan and Sha Lo Wan on Lantau, in the form of stone moulds, that the metal was actually worked locally.

The pottery of the Bronze Age comprises a continuation of the earlier cord-impressed and geometric traditions and a new ware, fired at much higher temperature leading to vitrification. This so-called hard geometric ware is decorated with designs many of which are reminiscent of the geometric patterns of the late neolithic, but with their own distinctive style including the well-known ‘Kui-dragon' or 'double F' pattern, so characteristic of this period.

Archaeology is silent on such questions as to the ethnic and linguistic affinities of the ancient peoples. However, some light is shed on these matters at the beginnings of recorded history, for ancient Chinese literary records speak of maritime peoples occupying China's south-eastern seaboard and known to them as 'Yue'. It is probable, therefore, that some at least of Hong Kong's prehistoric inhabitants belonged to the 'Hundred Yue', as this diverse group of peoples were often called.

Interesting archaeological features, almost certainly made by these people, are the rock carvings, most of which are geometric in style, at Shek Pik, on Kau Sai, Po Toi, Cheung Chau and Tung Lung islands and at Big Wave Bay and Wong Chuk Hang on Hong Kong Island.

The military conquest of South China by the north during the Qin and Han dynasties must have brought increasing numbers of Han settlers into the region and exerted a variety of influences on the indigenous populations. These events are testified by the discovery in excavations of coins of the Qin (221–207 BC) and Han (206 BC-220 AD) periods, but the outstanding monument to this turbulent period must undoubtedly be the fine brick-built tomb uncovered at Lei Cheng Uk in 1955 with its fine array of typical Han tomb furniture dateable from the early to middle Eastern Han period.

Archaeological remains from later historic periods are at present still poorly known. Recent work has thrown a welcome light on one aspect of life in the Hong Kong of the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD) through a study of the dome-shaped lime kilns which are an almost ubiquitous feature of the territory's beaches. Lime, a valuable commodity useful for caulking and protecting wooden boats against marine organisms, waterproofing containers, dressing the acid soils of agricultural fields, building and many other purposes, clearly played an important role in the economy of the period.

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