Late Neolithic period (c. 2500 – 1500 BC)

Human activities spread to almost every part of South China during the Late Neolithic period.

Sites discovered in Hong Kong include Yung Long in Tuen Mun, the headland at Sha Lo Wan on Lantau Island, Sham Wan on Lamma Island and Tung Wan Tsai on Ma Wan etc., indicating that people in this period expanded their activities to a larger geographical area, including hills and headlands, and were not restricted just to coastal sites.

The pottery found from this period features impressed geometric patterns that are typical of the South China region. The stone tools that have been discovered are mainly foraging tools and weapons, suggesting that the people of the Late Neolithic still relied on hunting and fishing to survive. Moreover, a considerable number of ornaments such as stone and slotted rings as well as ritual objects such as yue axes and ge halberds have been found, which implies that a more complex social structure had evolved. It is also thought that Neolithic settlers lived in stilt houses supported by wooden posts, as several series of postholes have been found at a number of different sites.

A Late Neolithic burial ground discovered at Tung Wan Tsai North on Ma Wan yielded the remains of several human skeletons, and studies by physical anthropologists have confirmed that the Neolithic people on Ma Wan were closely linked to the Neolithic settlers of the Pearl River region in Guangdong and that they were both of the Asian Mongoloid race.

Soft pottery pot with zigzag pattern

Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Yung Long, Tuen Mun
Height: 23cm Body diameter: 25cm

Soft pottery pot with concentric rings pattern

Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Yung Long, Tuen Mun
Height: 13.6cm Body diameter: 13.5cm

Soft pottery pot with ring-foot and leaf-vein design

Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Sha Lo Wan headland, Lantau Island
Height: 16cm Body diameter: 18.5 cm

Coarse corded pottery pot with incised pattern

Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Yung Long, Tuen Mun
Height: 16cm Body diameter: 19.5cm

Pottery spindle whorls

Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Yung Long, Tuen Mun
Diameter: 3.3-4.2cm

Stone yue-axe (ceremonial axe)

Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Yung Long, Tuen Mun
Length: 18.8cm Width: 10.4cm

Slotted stone rings

Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Yung Long, Tuen Mun
Diameter: 2.3-6cm

Stone anchor

Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Yung Long, Tuen Mun
Length: 23cm Width: 19cm

Soft pottery jar with lozenge and raised dot design

Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Sha Lau Tong Wan, Ma Wan
Height: 46cm Body diameter: 36cm

Soft pottery pot with lozenge design

Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Sha Chau, Tuen Mun
Height: 15cm Body diameter: 16cm

Large pottery pot with cord design

Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Lung Kwu Tan, Tuen Mun
Height: 37cm Body diameter: 52cm

Coarse corded pottery pot with ring-foot

Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Lung Kwu Chau, Tuen Mun
Height: 16cm Body diameter: 14.5cm

Stone spearhead

Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Sha Lo Wan headland, Lantau Island
Length: 16.7cm Width: 4.1cm

Bone arrowhead

Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Po Yue Wan, Cheung Chau
Length: 4.7cm Width: 1.5cm

Bust of a female reconstructed from the skull excavated from burial C7

Tung Wan Tsai, Ma Wan

Bust of a male reconstructed from the skull excavated from burial C81

Tung Wan Tsai, Ma Wan