Abstract
Geometric stamped pattern pottery is one of the most distinctive cultural features from the Neolithic to the Early Iron Age in South China and Southeast Asia. Professor Huixiang Lin and Rongfang Lv have already noted the importance of this pottery type in the prehistoric and ancient cultural development sequences of southeastern China (Wu 1992; Lv 1959). A special seminar called “Stamped Pattern Pottery in the Jiangnan (江南, South of Yangtze River) Region” and held in Lushan (庐山), Jiangxi Province, in 1978 focused on geometric stamped pattern pottery and the related cultural history of the Jiangnan region (ECCR 1981). Many other scholars, such as Boqian Li and Shifan Peng, have also done in-depth studies on this topic (Li 1981; Peng 1987). In South China the Minjiang (闽江) River region, in Fujian, and Taiwan Island have been grouped into one district due to cultural similarities based on the typological analysis of geometric stamped pattern pottery (Li 1981). However, the geometric stamped pattern pottery across the Taiwan Strait has different development sequences during the early history of ancient China (Pre-Qin and Han Dynasties). Further typological comparison of geometric stamped pattern pottery on both sides of the Taiwan Strait can offer greater insight on early historical cultural contact and exchange in this region.