When can the traditional craft be traced back to the earliest?

Traditional sculptures can be traced back to the Paleolithic Age.

Stone carving art is one of the oldest art forms of mankind. Its history is not only an art history, but also a history with rich cultural connotations, and it is also a history of human development and evolution. Stone tools and fire are the two earliest weapons for human beings to conquer nature. In the long history of mankind, sculpture art has been constantly updated and perfected with human civilization, from naivety to maturity. In different periods, the styles and types of sculptures have changed greatly. Different demands, different aesthetic standards, different social environment systems and technologies are all restricting the development and evolution of sculpture creation.

China's sculpture art began with stone carving. The history of sculpture can be traced back to the Paleolithic Age1200,000 years ago. The stone carving decoration of cavemen is a milestone in the history of ancient sculpture in China. The early Neolithic sculptures in China can be represented by the stone mills and grinding rods of Peiligang culture. It is not only a faithful record of primitive people's productive labor, but also embodies a high aesthetic value from beating to grinding. This sculpture, which embodies the duality of labor, is also called craft stone carving.

In ancient sculpture, it is difficult to distinguish the raw materials of jade and stone, and they are often treated equally. In the eyes of prehistoric people, megaliths are regarded as the residence or permanent symbol of souls and gods, so they are often used as coffins, boundary markers or objects of religious worship. So far, the Neolithic, ancient and modern stone carvings discovered by archaeology can be roughly divided into four categories.

The first category is traditional sculpture, including traditional typical microliths and small ornaments; The second category is practical grinding devices, such as production tools, weapons, household appliances and so on. The third category is the carving of Buddha statues with religious nature; The fourth category is the stone lion, stone unicorn and stone warrior in animal sculpture with life breath, and the fifth category is the stone archway, stone archway and archway with architectural nature. Among them, utensils and animal sculpture can best represent the highest technical level of sculpture modeling at that time. Neolithic line carving is another source of Neolithic carving technology in China, which was widely used in stone carving creation in past dynasties.