The site of the pottery, rarely found in north China, is located at Togtoh county in central Inner Mongolia.

So far, about 1,500 square meters of the site has been exposed, where some clay pits, wells, and stoves have been unearthed.

Archaeologists said that they have found more than 40 figurine objects from the site including semi-finished products, bowls, pots and some other fragments with many Chinese characters on them.

Chen Yongzhi, research staff with Archaeology Institute of Inner Mongolia, said the construction time of the workshop is from the Warring States Period (403 B.C.221B.C.) to the Han dynasty (206 B.C.220A.C.) according to a primary study. It suggests that people living in north China grassland had a high-level handicraft industry and led a stable life at that time.

The discovery is helpful to the research of ancient pottery techniques and convention of the people living in that region, experts said.

(People’s Daily 11/15/2000)