New evidence of correlation between craftsmanship and provenance in early Chinese protoporcelain and hard pottery

Abstract A significant number of hard pottery Bu fragments were found during the 1994 excavation of the Shang period cemetery in Wenjiashan, China. To investigate their composition, 30 hard pottery Bu samples from this cemetery and 17 protoporcelain and hard pottery samples from Yinxu were analysed using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Additionally, 17 Wenjiashan and 12 Yinxu samples underwent laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Principal component and cluster analyses of the major elements of the Wenjiashan hard pottery were compared with data from the Yinxu, Liujiazhuang North, Dasikong, and other Shang–Zhou period sites, which revealed regional differences in raw-material processing. Multivariate trace-element analysis revealed significant compositional overlaps between the protoporcelain and hard pottery from Yinxu and Wenjiashan, suggesting a shared provenance. These findings imply potential exchange between the Xiang River basin and the Central Plains, with hard pottery possibly traded alongside protoporcelain.