Yangshao Culture

The Yangshao Culture is an important Neolithic painted-pottery culture that existed extensively in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, where Henan Province is located, from 5000 BC to 3000 BC. Named after Yangshao in Sanmenxia, Henan where large cultural deposits were discovered in 1921, it is the first prehistoric culture in China that is confirmed using modern archaeological techniques, methods and theories, marking the beginning of the efforts to explore and rebuild ancient Chinese history with scientific approaches.

The Yangshao Culture features wide distribution, long durance, and significant discoveries. Painted pottery is a crucial element of the culture and the most exquisite representative of the relics of that period. The wide spread of painted pottery to several surrounding regions is considered by archaeologists to be the first artistic surge in prehistoric times.

With several large-scale, concentrated settlements, the Yangshao site is of vital importance for tracing the origin of the Chinese civilization and verifying its 5,000 years of history. The Shuanghuaishu site in Zhengzhou, dating back about 5,300 years, is the center of the Yangshao Culture. Being a city-like central settlement of the highest level among those formed during the middle and late periods of the Yangshao Culture, or the initial period of the Chinese civilization, the site is reputed as the embryo of the Chinese civilization.

The discovery of the Yangshao Culture proves the existence of a highly developed Neolithic Age in China and disproves the fallacy that "there was no Stone Age in China." The Yangshao Culture, as the first ancient cultural system to have an official name in China's archaeological history, is significant for tracing the origin of the Chinese civilization and studying the integrated evolution of the Chinese nation in diversity.

仰韶文化

仰韶文化是指中國黃河中游地區(qū)一種重要的新石器時代彩陶文化，其持續(xù)時間大約在公元前5000年至前3000年，分布在整個黃河中游到河南省之間。1921年，因仰韶遺址（今河南省三門峽市境內(nèi)）發(fā)掘而命名的仰韶文化，是中國第一個依靠現(xiàn)代考古學技術(shù)、方法和理論而確立的中國史前文化，開啟了以科學方法探索和重建中國古史的歷程。

仰韶文化是中國分布地域最廣、延續(xù)長久、內(nèi)涵豐富的史前文化。彩陶是仰韶文化的重要元素，也是仰韶文化出土器物中最精美的標志。彩陶的大范圍傳播，被考古學家認為是史前第一次藝術(shù)浪潮的代表，其傳播至周邊多個地區(qū)，達到史前藝術(shù)的高峰。

仰韶文化遺址不乏特大型中心性聚落，是探索中國早期文明起源的核心地區(qū)，是實證中華5000多年文明史的關(guān)鍵區(qū)域。距今5300年前后的雙槐樹遺址（今河南省鄭州市境內(nèi)）作為仰韶文化的核心，是迄今為止在黃河流域仰韶文化中晚期即中華文明形成初期發(fā)現(xiàn)的規(guī)格最高的、具有都邑性質(zhì)的中心聚落，被譽為“早期中華文明的胚胎”。

仰韶文化的發(fā)現(xiàn)，證實了中國存在過較為發(fā)達的新石器時代，破除了“中國無石器時代”的謬論，是中國考古史上第一個被正式命名的遠古文化體系，對探尋中華文明起源、研究中華民族多元一體演進格局具有重要意義。