List of Neolithic cultures of China

This is a list of Neolithic cultures of China that have been unearthed by archaeologists. They are sorted in chronological order from earliest to latest and are followed by a schematic visualization of these cultures.

It would seem that the definition of Neolithic in China is undergoing changes. The discovery in 2012 of pottery about 20,000 years BC indicates that this measure alone can no longer be used to define the period. It will fall to the more difficult task of determining when cereal domestication started.

List

Dates (BCE)	English name	Chinese name	Modern-day name and location
18000–7000	Xianren Cave culture (Paleolithic)	仙人洞、吊桶环遗址	Wannian County, Shangrao, Jiangxi
8500–7700	Nanzhuangtou culture	南莊頭遺址	Yellow River region in southern Hebei
7500–6100	Pengtoushan culture	彭頭山文化	central Yangtze region in northwestern Hunan
7000–5000	Peiligang culture	裴李崗文化	Yi-Luo river basin valley in Henan
6500–5500	Houli culture	後李文化	Shandong
6200–5400	Xinglongwa culture	興隆洼文化	Inner Mongolia-Liaoning border
6000–5000	Kuahuqiao culture	跨湖桥文化	Zhejiang
6000–5500	Cishan culture	磁山文化	southern Hebei
5800–5400	Dadiwan culture	大地灣文化	Gansu and western Shaanxi
5500–4800	Xinle culture	新樂文化	lower Liao River on the Liaodong Peninsula
5400–4500	Zhaobaogou culture	趙宝溝文化	Luan River valley in Inner Mongolia and northern Hebei
5300–4100	Beixin culture	北辛文化	Shandong
5000–4500	Hemudu culture	河姆渡文化	Yuyao and Zhoushan, Zhejiang
5000–3000	Daxi culture	大溪文化	Three Gorges region
5000–3000	Majiabang culture	馬家浜文化	Lake Tai area and north of Hangzhou Bay
5000–3000	Yangshao culture	仰韶文化	Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi
4700–2900	Hongshan culture	紅山文化	Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, and Hebei
4100–2600	Dawenkou culture	大汶口文化	Shandong, Anhui, Henan, and Jiangsu
3800–3300	Songze culture	崧澤文化	Lake Tai area
3400–2250	Liangzhu culture	良渚文化	Yangtze River Delta
3100–2700	Majiayao culture	馬家窯文化	upper Yellow River region in Gansu and Qinghai
3100–2700	Qujialing culture	屈家嶺文化	middle Yangtze region in Hubei and Hunan
3000–2000	Longshan culture	龍山文化	central and lower Yellow River
2800–2000	Baodun culture	寶墩文化	Chengdu Plain
2500–2000	Shijiahe culture	石家河文化	middle Yangtze region in Hubei
1900–1500	Yueshi culture	岳石文化	lower Yellow River region in Shandong
1600–1400	Erligang culture	二里崗文化	North China Plain

Schematic outline

Map of the Chinese Neolithic

These cultures existed during the period from 8500 to 1500 BC. Neolithic cultures remain unmarked and Bronze Age cultures (from 2000 BC) are marked with *. There are many differences in opinion on the dating for these cultures, so the dates chosen here are tentative:

Year (BC)	North-east China (1)	Upper Yellow River (2)	Middle Yellow River (3)	Lower- Yellow River (4)	Lower- Yangtze (5)	Middle- Yangtze (6)	Sichuan (7)	Southeast China (8)	South-west China (9)
8500			Nanzhuangtou 8500–7700
8000
7500
7000						Pengtoushan (including Chengbeixi and Zaoshi) 7000–5800
6500		Dadiwan	Peiligang	Houli 6500–5500				Zengpiyan 7000–5500
	Xinglongwa 6200–5400	Laoguantai	Cishan
		Baijia 6500–5000	Jiahu
6000			Lijiacun 6500–5000		Kuahuqiao 6000–5000
5500
				Beixin 5300–4500
	Xinle 5300–4800
5000			Yangshao 5000–3000		Hemudu 5000–3400	Daxi 5000–3300		Dapenkeng
								Fuguodun 5000–3000
					Majiabang 5000–4000
4500	Zhaobaogou 4500–4000
				Dawenkou 4300–2600	Songze 4000–3000
4000
3500						Qujialing 3500–2600
	Hongshan (incl. Fuhe) 3400–2300						Yingpanshan 3100–?
		Majiayao 3300–2700			Liangzhu 3200–1800
3000								Tanishan
		Banshan 2700–2400				Shijiahe 2500–2000	Baodun 2800–2000	Shixia
			Longshan 2800–2000					Nianyuzhuan
2500		Machang 2400–2000				Qinglongquan		Qinglongquan
						Longshan 2400–2000		Hedang 3000–?	Baiyangcun 2200–2100
		*Qijia 2300–1800	*Shimao 2300–1800
2000	*Xiajiadian 2000–300								Dalongtan 2100–2000
			*Erlitou 1900–1500	*Yueshi 1900–1500		*Panlongcheng 1900-1400
		*Siba 1950–1500			*Maqiao 1800–1200
1500			*Erligang 1600–1400				*Sanxingdui 1700–1150	*Wucheng 1600-?
						*Wucheng 1400-?
		*Siwa 1350-650	*Huanbei 1350-1300				*Shi'erqiao 1200-800
1000			*Zhou dynasty 1046–256

For this schematic outline of its neolithic cultures China has been divided into the following nine parts:

1. Northeast China: Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning.
2. Northwest China (Upper Yellow River): Gansu, Qinghai and western part of Shaanxi.
3. North-central China (Middle Yellow River): Shanxi, Hebei, western part of Henan and eastern part of Shaanxi.
4. Eastern China (lower Yellow River): Shandong, Anhui, northern part of Jiangsu and eastern part Henan.
5. East-south-eastern China (lower Yangtze): Zhejiang and biggest part of Jiangsu.
6. South-central China (middle Yangtze): Hubei and northern part of Hunan.
7. Sichuan and upper Yangtze.
8. Southeast China: Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, southern part of Hunan, lower Red River in the northern part of Vietnam and the island of Taiwan.
9. Southwest China: Yunnan and Guizhou.

See also

• History of China
• List of Bronze Age sites in China
• List of Palaeolithic sites in China
• List of inventions and discoveries of Neolithic China
• Neolithic signs in China
• Prehistory of China
• Prehistoric Beifudi site
• Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
• Xia dynasty

Further reading

• Chang, Kwang-chih (1986). The archaeology of ancient China. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03784-8.

• Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L., eds. (1999). The Cambridge history of ancient China:from the origins of civilization to 221 B.C. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-47030-7.

• He, Zhonghu; Bonjean, A.P.A. (2010). Cereals in China. International Maize and Wheat Improvement Organization (CIMMYT). ISBN 978-970-648-177-1. Retrieved 2017-07-16.

• Higham, Charles (1996). The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Cambridge England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-49660-8.

• Liu, Li (2004). The Chinese neolithic:trajectories to early states. Cambridge, UK New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81184-8.

• Liu, Li; Chen, Xingcan (eds). 2012. The archaeology of China: from the late paleolithic to the early bronze age. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-64310-8

• Underhill, Anne P (ed). 2013. A companion to Chinese archaeology. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4443-3529-3

• Maisels, Charles (1999). Early civilizations of the old world:the formative histories of Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, India, and China. London New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-10976-0.

• Scarre, Christopher (2005). The human past:world prehistory & the development of human societies. New York, N.Y: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-28531-4.

chapter 7, Higham, Charles, 'East Asian Agriculture and Its Impact', p.234-264.

chapter 15, Higham, Charles, 'Complex Societies of East and Southeast Asia', p.552-594

External links

• Media related to Neolithic cultures of China at Wikimedia Commons