A Comparison of Pottery Symbols from Liuwan, Qinghai, Pumi Incised Symbols, and Naxi Dongba Script
This article examines over 100 symbols found on painted pottery excavated from graves in Liuwan, Qinghai, dating back more than 4,000 years. Comparative analysis shows these symbols differ from oracle bone inscriptions, the early form of Chinese writing, indicating they belong to a distinct symbolic system. However, the author identifies numerous similarities between the Liuwan pottery symbols and both the engraved symbols of the Pumi ethnic group and the Dongba script of the Naxi people, particularly regarding symbols related to the sun. Since both the Pumi and Naxi are descendants of the ancient Qiang people, the study argues that historical ethnic migration patterns and language-culture contact provide a reasonable explanation for these connections. The findings suggest that a system of record-keeping symbols was already in use among the ancient Qiang people, offering new insight into the origins and transmission of early Chinese pictographic writing systems in the region.
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