Majiayao

Refers to one of the three major phases of the Gansu culture, dating from ca. 3300 to ca. 2100 BCE. Majiayao culture covered western Gansu and eastern Qinghai provinces; it is named after a site in Lintao county in Gansu that was excavated in 1921 to 1923 by the Swedish archaeologist Johan Gunnar Andersson. Typical Majiayao-phase pottery includes jars and bowls of fine paste with lustrous black decoration painted on yellow or red grounds. Sweeping, curvilinear designs punctuated with a central dot or interspersed with undulating lines or crosshatching are characteristic, and are particularly found on jars and urns. Other designs include thick zigzags lines and frog, bird, and dancing human figures. Bone ornaments, stone and bone tools, and toys such as pottery rattles have been found. The limited bronzeworking of this period was of no significance to the economy.