Middle Neolithic period (c. 4000 – 2500 BC)

Archaeological remains suggest that Hong Kong was inhabited by early settlers around 6,000 years ago during the Middle Neolithic period, as deposits from this era have been discovered at Chung Hom Wan on Hong Kong Island, Sham Wan and Tai Wan on Lamma Island, Fu Tei Wan on Chek Lap Kok and Lung Kwu Chau and Yung Long in Tuen Mun, among other places. The pottery that has been unearthed includes cooking vessels and food containers generally decorated with designs painted in red or impressed with fine cord patterns. A variety of stone tools and stone ornaments have also been found, suggesting that the inhabitants lived by hunting and fishing.

Similar cultural remains have been found at sandbar and shell midden sites in Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Gaoyao, Zhengcheng, Zhuhai and Macau, where the shapes and decorations of the pottery and stone tools that have been discovered are more or less identical to those unearthed in Hong Kong.

Stone hammer

Middle Neolithic period
Excavated from Yung Long, Tuen Mun
Length: 11.7cm Width: 8cm

Coarse corded pottery cauldron with incised wavy-line pattern

Middle Neolithic period
Excavated from Sham Wan, Lamma Island
LHeight: 14cm Body diameter: 18cm

Pottery stem cup with incised pattern and perforations

Middle Neolithic period
Excavated from Fu Tei Wan, Chek Lap Kok
Height: 25cm Rim diameter: 12.5cm

Pottery basin with perforated ring-foot

Middle Neolithic period
Excavated from Tai Wan, Lamma Island
Height: 7cm Rim diameter: 17cm