????The decorative patterns
and symbols on Chinese pottery crafted during prehistoric times
were made with hard writing tools instead of the long, soft
brushes, a Chinese archaeologist has said.
????The primitive hard writing tools were
made of bamboo, wood, animal bones and horns, clods of soil
and black lead, said Li Zhengyu, a researcher with the China
Dunhuang Studies Institute in northwest China's Gansu Province.
????Although soft brushes had been the major
writing and drawing tools throughout Chinese history, hard
tools were the earliest "pens" of ancient Chinese,
Li said.
????On the pottery of the Neolithic Age,
10,000 to 4,000 years ago, the earliest artists drew the outline
of designs with hard, sharp tools.
????Colored pictures appeared on the pottery
in a later period. However, the colored areas contained many
thin scratches, and no trace of brush use was evident, Li
said.
????During the late period of the Neolithic
Age, ancient artists did use bird feathers or rabbit tails
to paint large areas. But these were not the major drawing
tools at that time, Li said.
????The indoor ground paintings, dating
back more than 5,000 years ago, found at the Dadiwan relic
site in Qin'an County, Gansu, were made of black charcoal,
which was quite similar to today's pencil, Li added.
????(Xinhua 03/08/2001)
