Ancient site · Settlement
Peiligang
Peiligang, a village site in Xinzheng near Zhengzhou in Henan, was discovered in 1977 and gave its name to the Peiligang culture. Its people grew millet, raised pigs, hunted deer and boar and fished with hemp nets.
They made some of the oldest pottery in northern China and used stone sickles and grinding slabs to process grain. Like other Peiligang villages, it had separate areas for houses and for the dead. Archaeologists think these communities were egalitarian, with little sign of chiefs or rich graves.
- Dates
- c. 7000–5000 BCE (Peiligang culture)
- Still standing
- No, or only traces
- Location
- 34.44° N, 113.70° E
How we know
No writing existed; the site and its culture are dated by radiocarbon and pottery styles.
Nearby sites
- Zhengzhou Shang City c. 1600–1400 BCE
- Jiahu c. 7000–5700 BCE
- Erlitou c. 1750–1500 BCE (older estimates from c. 1900 BCE)
- Yinxu (Anyang) c. 1250–1046 BCE
- Taosi c. 2300–1900 BCE
- Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang and the Terracotta Army 246–209 BCE
Related
- Peiligang culture archaeological culture