This work investigates the development of social complexity and the changes of modes of pottery production from the Neolithic to early Bronze Age in the Yuanqu Basin, north-central China. The research focuses on the development of specialised pottery production in different societies. Through settlement pattern studies, the author examines the social changes during eight cultural periods from the Neolithic to the early Bronze Age (ca. 6200-1300 B.C.). The settlement analyses address 46 sites, including seven excavated sites in the Yuanqu Basin. This study argues that the initial and...