Yangshao culture is an important Neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. Yangshao culture was discovered in Yangshao Village, Mianchi County, Sanmenxia City, Henan Province in 192 1, so it was called Yangshao culture, which lasted about 5000 to 3000 BC. It is distributed in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, from today's Gansu Province to Henan Province. Today, thousands of Yangshao cultural sites have been discovered in China, of which Henan Province and Shaanxi Province are the most, and they are the centers of Yangshao culture. Yangshao culture is a Neolithic culture in China, dating back about 5,000-7,000 years. 192 1 was first discovered in Yangshao Village, Mianchi County, Sanmenxia City, Henan Province. It is mainly distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, centering on the west of Henan, the Weihe River Basin in Shaanxi and the narrow strip in the southwest of Shanxi, east to the middle of Hebei, south to the middle and upper reaches of Hanshui River, west to the Taohe River Basin in Gansu and north to the Hetao area in Inner Mongolia. Nearly 100 cultural sites have been excavated, and the unearthed cultural relics all reflect the same cultural characteristics. Production tools are mainly the development of grinding stone tools, such as knives, axes, hoes, chisels, arrows, textile stone spinning wheels and so on. The bones are also quite delicate. There is a relatively developed agriculture, and the crops are chestnut and millet. Livestock are mainly pigs and dogs. Also engaged in hunting, fishing and gathering. All kinds of daily-use pottery, such as water containers, retort, stove, pot, bowl, cup, pot, jar, etc. , mainly fine clay red pottery and mixed sand red pottery, the color is mainly red. Most of them are hand-made, made of clay strips, and then flattened the walls of the vessels. Red pottery is often painted with geometric patterns or animal patterns, which is the most obvious feature of Yangshao culture, so it is also called painted pottery culture. The site selection is generally on the terrace formed by long-term erosion on both sides of the river, or on the high and flat place where the two rivers meet. The fertile land here is beneficial to agriculture and animal husbandry, and it is convenient to take water and transport. For example, Jiangzhai village site in Lintong has about 100 houses, which are divided into five groups and surrounded by trenches, reflecting the strict clan commune system at that time. Yangshao culture belongs to the culture in the prosperous period of matriarchal clan commune system.
Yangshao culture shows people the social structure and cultural achievements of China matriarchal clan system from prosperity to decline.