Congo red staining can be used to detect effectively the remains of starch grain processing,so some pottery objects and stone implements unearthed from the Diaolongbei site were tested through a starch grain analysis. Most of the examined artifacts were detected to bear remains of starch grain,which provided important information for understanding their function. In particular,processed and undamaged starch grains were discovered on rare-seen pottery rollers,which,therefore,must have been used for processing plants. The remains of cooked starch grain on the grooved basins suggest that this type of vessel may be a processing tool or container of plant food,which reflects the multiple use of ancient pottery.
The archaeological excavation report Shizhaocun and Xishanping compiled by the Institute of Archaeology, CASS, is a comprehensive and systematic summation of the rich material from the Shizhaocun and Xishanping sites in Tianshui city, Gansu, excavated by the Gansu and Qinghai Archaeological Team of the Institute as long as ten years in 1981--1990. Containing evidence of the superimposion of the successive layers from the Dadiwan I culture to the Qijia culture, the two sites revealed a complete evolutionary sequence of the prehistoric culture in the Weihe River valley. The book constitutes a batch of important achievements in the prehistoric archaeology of Gansu, and has great scientific value and academic significance to studying the history of primitive society in the Northwest of China.
