Spatial Distribution of the Neolithic Sites and its Environmental Background in Henan Province

Abstract

According to amount change of the Neolithic sites in the Peiligang, Yang shao and Longshan Cultural Periods in Henan Province, these sites was divided into three categories: first is the Growth type, e.g. the Luoyang Basin. Where High plain and hilly landform was convenient for millet-farming and settlement-clustering. The amount of sites was increasing in the whole Neolithic Period. The Second is the Atrophy type, e.g. the Nan yang Basin. This area was a transition zone for cultural exchange, the local cultural space was constricted continually from foreign culture intrusion as well as the site amount decreased. And the third is the Oscillation type, e.g. the area of Yinghe-Ruhe River downstream with low land and frequent floods, which affected the amounts of sites in respond to series climate fluctuations in the early and middle Holocene. Comparatively, the unique terrain environment and water networks in the Luoyang Basin heralded the earliest civilized fruit in China and to be the cradle of early cultural transmission.