Xinglongwa
Xinglongwa Culture Type-Site · Aohan Banner Xinglongwa
Xinglongwa culture 6200–5400 BCE → Zhaobaogou → Hongshan·Xinglongwa (Liao River Neolithic, Proto-Mongolic?)·🇨🇳 Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Chifeng City, Aohan Banner, Xinglongwa village 1.3 km southeast of the type site on southwestern hill slope (Liao River headwaters), China
About
About Xinglongwa
6200–5400 BCE, 8200–7400 BP) on the Aohan hills near Chifeng, Inner Mongolia — earliest Neolithic on the Mongolian plateau, 120 pit-house village with central large building and earliest ditch enclosure in Northeast Asia (inner ditch 150 m diameter), excavated 1982–83 by Inner Mongolia Institute. Xinglongwa (7500–6200 BP) features 120 houses in rows (4×4 m pit houses with central hearth), pig (early domesticated, 70% bones), earliest millet cultivation (broomcorn 6200 BCE), jade rings and human-ceremonial burial with pigs and pigment (oldest man-pig joint burials in China, 6200 BCE) proving sedentary forager to millet-pig farmer transition at the Liao River cradle.
Why it mattersEarliest ditch enclosure and pit-house planning in Northeast Asia (6200 BCE) — plus earliest millet + pig domestication joint burials at Liao River cradle leading to Hongshan.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Were row houses social ranking or kin?
Theories
- 01Liao River independent Neolithic (Xinglongwa) parallel to Yangzi–Yellow (Mongolian Plateau model)
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.6200–6000 BCE pit-house village with ditch
- Period
- Xinglongwa culture 6200–5400 BCE → Zhaobaogou → Hongshan
- Culture
- Xinglongwa (Liao River Neolithic, Proto-Mongolic?)
- Builders
- Liao River early millet-pig farmers (Xinglongwa people)
- Purpose
- Earliest pit-house farming hamlet with ditch defence and ceremonial pig burials on Liao headwaters
- Abandoned
- c.5400 BCE (transition to Zhaobaogou culture nearby)
- Rediscovered
- 1982–83 discovery; 1983–84 key excavation; ditch found 1997
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.6200–5400 BCE
120 pit houses in rows with ditched enclosure and central large building
c.6000 BCE
Man-pig joint burials with jade and pigment (pig domestication)
1982–83
Inner Mongolia defines Xinglongwa as earliest Liao Neolithic
On the ground
Structures & features
42.3000° N · 120.3000° E · 580 m · 2 mapped features
Ditched House Rows
settlement120 pit houses in rows with central large building and 150 m ditch enclosure
42.3005° N · 120.3005° EMan-Pig Burial Area
cemeteryJoint human-pig burials with jade rings and cinnabar pigment (6200 BCE)
42.2995° N · 120.2995° E
Gallery