Why is the fish the most frequent image in Yangshao culture pottery paintings?

The National Museum of China has a colored pottery basin with human face and fish motifs unearthed at the Neolithic Yangshao Culture site in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, with two figures each painted on the inside of the basin, one with a rounded forehead, the left half of the figure painted black, and the right half with a black semi-curved shape. The left half is painted in black, and the right half is black and half-arched. The figure has long and thin eyes, straight nose, and a peaceful demeanor. There are two deformed fish patterns around the mouth, the fish head and the human mouth exterior overlap, with two small fish on either side of the ear opposite, constituting a peculiar image of the human-fish ensemble, the whole picture is filled with a mysterious atmosphere.

The "fish pattern" and the "sphinx pattern" were also found on the pottery excavated from the Yangshao culture half-slope type sites in Shaanxi.

Fish pattern basin is the Yangshao culture half-slope type period people hold ritual activities of the apparatus, there is a view that, "fish pattern" in the human face is the face of the sorcerer, sorcerer to do magic, must be made up, Ur two green snakes. But the sorcerer can not be real snake, real fish in the ear and mouth, so they will wear a mask, fish, face, etc. are part of the mask, more precisely "human face fish" pattern should be the image of the sorcerer's mask reproduction.

Because the ancestors were governed by the concept of "everything has a spirit", they held frequent rituals, the most important of which were the sowing and harvesting rituals.

Fisheries and agriculture played an important role during the Hanpo period, and fish symbolized a good harvest, so it is assumed that the fish expresses the desire of the people of the villages in the Hanpo area to have a good harvest every year. In addition, because the fish reproduction ability is very strong, become Chinese people ancient reproductive totem worship, so the fish image will be in the Yangshao culture pottery painting in a large number of appearances.

Summary:

The Records of the Grand Historian (史记-周本纪), it is recorded that during the Zhou Dynasty, auspicious patterns of birds and fish were used. In the Han Dynasty's portrait stone, the fish pattern is mostly carp, and carp often and dragon, phoenix pattern in the same painting, forming an auspicious theme, implying reproductive prosperity, many children, many grandchildren, dragon colt phoenix chick meaning. As you can see, the symbolism of the symbols because of the combination, the carrier, the environment and the different layers of meaning and the derivation of meaning related to this.