The total ruins of Neolithic Age that were discovered in Tibet include the ruins of Karub, Lesser Enda and Gyangqen in Chamdo. Among them, the ruins of Karub are the earliest Neolithic Age remains so far found in Tibet . Most of the pottery displayed in the Tibet Museum was unearthed from Karub Ruins, followed by pottery unearthed from Gunggar Qamgo Gully. The pottery unearthed from the ruins of Karub is on a large scale in respect of both quantity and quality, and its shape, patterns and lines possess the typical characteristics of ceramic craftsmanship in the early times on the plateau.
The ruins of Karub have a history of 4,300-5,300 years, and among some of the unearthed 20,000 pottery shards, 1,234 pieces can be recognized. It basically exemplifies ceramics craftsmanship at the end of the Tibetan pre-historic period. The pottery wares in the ruins of Karub were all shaped by hand. Some small wares might be kneaded into shape by hand, and the large wares were shaped by means of earth strips to winding construct and earth pieces to paste up. The pursuit of practicability of pottery in the earliest times gradually transformed to the pursuit of artistic effect in shape. The pottery trimming technology of the ruins of Karub illustrates the slow-wheel trimming craftsmanship, but it is far behind the wheel trimming technology of ceramics of the Qugung Ruins. The surface of the pottery was polished many times, but it was not very smooth. The pottery adornments of the ruins of Karub gave priority to cut lines, including circles, single and double curving lines, parallel lines, rhombus lines and connected curves. The line adornments are abundant in different patterns. Line adornments are all on the upper half of pottery, and it can be presumed that, in those days, when people placed pottery directly on ground they could only see the upper half. The pottery wares are in gray, red, yellow and black, and the gray and the red ones predominate. In regard to the pottery unearthed from the ruins of Karub, in firing, the duration and degree of heating was not enough and they were not heated evenly, so that the surface color was not uniform with some mottling. It can be presumed that, at that time, there was no pottery kiln, and people just fired pottery in the open air. Most pottery wares still have smoke marks and they might have been used as a cooker. The pottery unearthed from the ruins of Karub is very simple. The ware shapes are only different with the upper or lower position of the largest diameter of their bellies. The typical characteristic in manufacturing is that a circle of earth strips was added to the largest diameter in the belly on the surface, and lines were adorned and pressed on this. The pottery mainly includes pots, basins and bowls. They all have flat bottoms and were mainly used as vessels.
Archeological study shows that, on some pottery wares in Qamdo, there are marks of repairing. On the edge of cracks in the wares, holes for repairing can be seen, and some are on the edge of the bottom, which implies that the bottom of such wares often fell off because of an ability to bear any weight at that time. These repair marks help verify the importance of pottery in daily life and people's cherished care of pottery at that time. Among the pottery unearthed from the ruins of Karub, there is a "double-body pottery pot" that is also called as "double-connected pottery pot with carved lines". It is 18.7CM high and 29.2CM wide. Its opening diameter is 11CM and its bottom diameter is 8CM . This pot was made of yellow pottery with fine sand. It is in shape of double-body and connected opening. The opening is round and the edge turns outward. The two bellies are in an elliptical shape; a short button was stuck to the outside on each side, and the bottom is flat. The neck was carved with double curving lines; one belly was carved with double inverted V lines, and the other belly was carved with rhombus lines. Black pottery was painted as adornment in spaces between lines, so it is also called as pottery red and black colorful painted double-body pot. The shape is special, the line adornments are neat, and it implies the special aesthetic interests of its creator. It is a significant highlight among pre-historic cultural relics. Some people think its shape seems like two animals standing face to face, and a pair of buttons with a hole on the shoulder seems like the tails of the animals.
The Karub culture possesses a strong regional color. Besides pottery, other production implements also epitomize the character of the Neolithic Age, and stoneware comprises forged stoneware, fine stoneware and polished stoneware at the same time. In regard to construction, there are different construction relics including houses, stoves, round table-boards, roads, stone wall, round stone stage, wall pen, ash pit, etc. Their construction level and technology have reached some degree of refinement, especially for residential constructions of troglodytic style and semi-troglodytic style, which had great impact on the architectural technology and future development of original culture in Tibetan areas.
The pottery ware unearthed from Karub Ruins involves religious effects. As the birthplace of various original religious doctrines such as the Bon religion in Tibetan areas, many relics on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are endowed with strong religious coloring. Some pottery segments were painted in red and some pottery was used to carry paint. In the pre-historic period red was viewed as a symbol of life and strength, which represents the Tibetan ancestors' veneration of life. The appearance of pottery is a significant symbol of human's entrance into the Neolithic Age from the Paleolithic Age. China is one of the countries that took the lead in inventing pottery in the world. Pottery made great indelible contribution to the development of world's history, culture, art and technology. It is the bright crystallization of labor, wisdom and experience in pre-historical ancestors'struggle for life with nature. It can also be said that the developing history of Tibet ancient pottery is an indirect and visual developing history of pre-historic Tibet.
