NANCHANG, July 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Human fingerprints were found on pottery pieces dating back to more than 3,600 years ago in Wannian County of east China's Jiangxi Province, local museum announced Wednesday.

    The discovery is of great significance to research on anthropology, sociology,and medicine in China, according to the provincial cultural relics administration.

    The fingerprints were found on seven pottery pieces, which was unearthed from a cultural relics site of Shang Dynasty (1,600 BC to 1,100 BC), when employees of the county's museum sifting collections early this month, said Wang Binwan, head of the museum.

    "The seven pottery pieces were all found on the knobs of several potteries and the fingerprints on three pieces can be seen clearly," said Wang.

    Fingerprints were used as decoration on potteries in the Neolithic Ages in China and later they were used to as symbol of credit in the Shang Dynasty, the Western Zhou Dynasty (1,100 BC- 771 BC) and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 BC to 221 BC), said Wang. Enditem