New archaeological discoveries constantly push the earliest believed date for the use of inkstones further back into Chinese antiquity. In 1975, archaeologists uncovered an inkstone from an ancient tomb in the Yunmeng (¶³¹Ú) area of Hupeh Province. It proved to be approximately 2,200 years old, dating back to the Ch'in Dynasty (221-206 B.C.). This particular discovery was important because it yielded the first inkstone dated to before the Christian era. But archaeologists were soon to move the date back much further.

Only five years later, a phenomenal archaeological find made international news: the discovery of an inkstone over 5,000 years old. Excavated at the Lintung Chiangchai Neolithic site ( Á{¼à«¸¹ë¿ò§}), just fifteen kilometers from the famous Panp'o Neolithic site ( ¦è¦w¥b©Y¿ò§}) at Sian, Shensi Province, it is dated to the early part of the Yangshao Neolithic pottery culture ( ¥õ»à¤å¤Æ).

Uncovered together with the inkstone were ink pellets and a ceramic waterpot, both used with the inkstone. China did not have a written language at that early date, but archaeologists have long believed that many of the designs on the painted pottery from that time were done with a brush. The excavated brush, together with the inkstone, ink, and waterpot, constitutes a complete Neolithic painting set, and remains the earliest predecessor of three of the scholar's "four treasures" found so far.

Despite its ancient age, the inkstone excavated from the Chiangchai site is anything but primitive. It has a cover, and a depressed surface for grinding the ink. It therefore closely resembles the inkstones familiar several millennia. later. This early inkstone, however, like the one uncovered in Yunmeng, was used in a somewhat different manner from later inkstones because of the form of ink. The ink pellets found with these early stones were too small to be held in the hand and ground like more recent inksticks. Instead, both of these early discoveries were found with another stone shaped like a pestle; the ink was ground by putting an ink pellet on the surface of the larger inkstone, then the smaller pestle was used to grind the ink pellet.

Other discoveries have shown that by the advent of the Christian era stonewas no longer used for the manufacture of inkstones. For almost a millennium, ceramic became the material of choice. However, these inkstones were very dif- ferent from other ceramic ware of the time. Ceramic roofing tiles from Chinese palaces provided an unusual yet very suitable material for making inkstones. Rectangular in shape and curved like a quarter moon, a small ink well and water reservoir was chiseled out of the center of the tile. For greater durability, these roof tiles were fired in kilns at higher temperatures than ordinary ceramic ware, producing a fne, hard surface. Ink- sticks could be easily ground on this type of inkstone, which had the added quality of not damaging brushes or retarding the evaporation of ground ink.