The Longshanculture, also sometimes referred to as the Black Pottery Culture, was a late Neolithic culture in the middle and lower Yellow River valley areas of northern China from about 3000 to 1900 BC. The first archaeological find of this culture took place at the Chengziya Archaeological Site in 1928, with the first excavations in 1930 and 1931. The culture is named after the nearby modern town of Longshan in Zhangqiu, Shandong. The culture was noted for its highly polished black pottery. The population expanded dramatically during the 3rd millennium BC, with many settlements having rammed earth walls. It decreased in most areas around 2000 BC until the central area evolved into the Bronze Age Erlitou culture. The Longshan culture has been linked to the early Sinitic . According to the area and cultural type, the Longshan culture can be divided into two types: Shandong Longshan and Henan Longshan. Among them, Shandong Longshan Cultural Site includes Chengziya Site; Henan Longshan Cultural Site includes Dengfeng Wangchenggang Site in Wangwan, Taosi Site and Mengzhuang Site in Hougang.
The Erlitou culture was an early Bronze Age society and archaeological culture. It existed in the Yellow River valley from approximately 1900 to 1500 BC. A 2007 study using radiocarbon dating proposed a narrower date range of 1750–1530 BC. The culture is named after Erlitou, an archaeological site in Yanshi, Henan. It was widely spread throughout Henan and Shanxi and later appeared in Shaanxi and Hubei. Most archaeologists consider Erlitou the first state-level society in China. Chinese archaeologists generally identify the Erlitou culture as the site of the Xia dynasty, but there is no firm evidence, such as writing, to substantiate such a linkage, as the earliest evidence of Chinese writing dates to the Late Shang period.
The Qijia culture was an early Bronze Age culture distributed around the upper Yellow River region of Gansu and eastern Qinghai, China. It is regarded as one of the earliest bronze cultures in China.
The Erligang culture is a Bronze Age urban civilization and archaeological culture in China that existed from approximately 1600 to 1400 BC. The primary site, Zhengzhou Shang City, was discovered at Erligang, within the modern city of Zhengzhou, Henan, in 1951.
Panlongcheng or Panlong City is an archaeological site associated with the Erligang culture during the Shang dynasty period. The site is located just north of the Yangtze river, on the bank of the Panlong lake, and is surrounded by the Fushui river in Huangpi, Wuhan, Hubei, China. Panlongcheng is the largest excavated Erligang site, showing the southernmost reach of the Erligang culture at its peak. It was discovered in 1954, and excavated in 1974 and 1976.
The Lower Xiajiadian culture is an archaeological culture in Northeast China, found mainly in southeastern Inner Mongolia, northern Hebei, and western Liaoning, China. Subsistence was based on millet farming supplemented with animal husbandry and hunting. Archaeological sites have yielded the remains of pigs, dogs, sheep, and cattle. The culture built permanent settlements and achieved relatively high population densities. The population levels reached by the Lower Xiajiadian culture in the Chifeng region would not be matched until the Liao Dynasty. The culture was preceded by the Hongshan culture, through the transitional Xiaoheyan culture. The type site is represented by the lower layer at Xiajiadian in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia.
The Upper Xiajiadian culture was a Bronze Age archaeological culture in Northeast China derived from the Eurasian steppe bronze tradition. It is associated with the Donghu of Chinese history.
The Ordos culture was a material culture occupying a region centered on the Ordos Loop during the Bronze and early Iron Age from c. 800 BCE to 150 BCE. The Ordos culture is known for significant finds of Scythian art and may represent the easternmost extension of Indo-European Eurasian nomads, such as the Saka, or may be linkable to Palaeo-Siberians or Yeniseians. Under the Qin and Han dynasties, the area came under the control of contemporaneous Chinese states.
The Xianyun was an ancient nomadic tribe that invaded the Zhou dynasty. This Chinese exonym is written with xian獫 or 玁 "long-snouted dog", and this "dog" radical 犭 is commonly used in graphic pejorative characters. "Xianyun" was the preferred designation for northern tribes during the Zhou dynasty, earlier designations being the Xunyu, Guifang, and later ones being the Xiongnu, during the Han dynasty.
Guifang was an ancient ethnonym for a northern people that fought against the Shang dynasty. Chinese historical tradition used various names, at different periods, for northern tribes such as Guifang, Rong, Di, Xunyu, Xianyun, or Xiongnu peoples. This Chinese exonym combines gui and fang, a suffix referring to "non-Shang or enemy countries that existed in and beyond the borders of the Shang polity."
The Siwa culture was a Bronze Age culture in southeast Gansu Province, China. It was discovered by Swedish geologist Johan Gunnar Andersson in 1924 at Mount Siwa (寺洼山) in Lintao County, hence its name. It flourished circa 14th to 11th century BC, it is tentatively attributed to the cultures of the Northern Di, Qiang, and Xunyu peoples.
Xindian culture was a Bronze Age culture in the Gansu and Qinghai provinces of China. Xindian culture is dated ca. 1500–1000 BCE, a radiocarbon testing of an artefact produced a date around 1000 BCE, which roughly corresponds to the Western Zhou period of the Central Plain area.
Chaodaogou culture was a late Bronze Age nomadic archeological culture in the northern Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan provinces of China, its center is located between the bend of the river Hunahe and the drainage basin of the Liao 遼/辽 river. Chaodaogou culture is cautiously dated to c. the 9th to 8th centuries BCE, falling within Western Zhou period of the Central Plain (Zhongyuan) area. The type site of the culture is Chaodaogou in Qinglong county, Hebei, excavated in May 1961. Another typical site of this culture is a cemetery in Linzheyu (林遮峪) in Baode county, Shaanxi. The Chaodaogou culture is roughly contemporary with the fishing and hunting nomadic Baijinbao culture in Heilongjiang.
The Yueshi culture was an archaeological culture in the Shandong region of eastern China, dated from 1900 to 1500 BC. It spanned the period from the Late Neolithic to the early Bronze Age. In the Shandong area, it followed the Longshan culture period and was later replaced by the Erligang culture.
Shimao is a Neolithic site in Shenmu County, Shaanxi, China. The site is located in the northern part of the Loess Plateau, on the southern edge of the Ordos Desert. It is dated to around 2000 BC, near the end of the Longshan period, and is the largest known walled site of that period in China, at 400 ha. The fortifications of Shimao were originally believed to be a section of the Great Wall of China, but the discovery of jade pieces prompted an archaeological investigation, which revealed that the site was of Neolithic age.
In 2001, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences organized a poll for China's 100 major archaeological discoveries in the 20th century. The participants included eight national-level institutions for archaeology and cultural relics, provincial-level archaeological institutes from 28 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, as well as from Hong Kong, the archaeological departments of 11 major national universities, and many other scholars in Beijing. After three months and three rounds of voting, the results were announced on 29 March 2001 and were published in the journal Kaogu (Archaeology). In 2002, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Press published the book China's 100 Major Archaeological Discoveries in the 20th Century (二十世纪中国百项考古大发现), with more than 500 pages and 1,512 pictures.
The earliest human occupation of what is now China dates to the Lower Paleolithic c. 1.7 million years ago—attested by archaeological finds such as the Yuanmou Man. The Erlitou and Erligang cultures inhabiting the Yellow River valley were Bronze Age civilizations predating the historical record—which first emerges c. 1250 – c. 1200 BCE at Yinxu, during the Late Shang.
The Shajing culture, is an ancient Iron Age culture in the area of Gansu, to the northwest of the Central Plains of China. The village of Shajing is about 250 km northwest of Wuwei, while the village of Yushugou, another important Shajing site, is about 140 km to its southeast. The Shajing culture is closely associated to the Saka culture of the Xinjiang, the Ordos culture of Inner Mongolia and the Upper Xiajiadian culture of Liaoning. It was a culture essentially based on pastoral nomadism. As of 2017, seven sites had been excavated and almost as many fortified settlements built with walls of compacted loess.
The Xicha culture, also Xicha-Lijiaya culture was a culture of Inner Mongolia and Greater Ordos area, from 1300 BCE to 1000 BCE. It succeeded the Zhukaigou culture, and preceded the Bronze Age Ordos culture.
The Maoqinggou culture is an archaeological culture of Inner Mongolia, to the east of the Ordos culture area, centered around the Maoqinggou cemetery. It is an important site for the understanding of China's northern grasslands in the early Iron Age. The site has four phases, from the Spring and Autumn period to the late Warring States period, including a period of early Xiongnu occupation.
