The Neolithic Age: Laohushan Culture

Around the 2nd millennium BC, Hongshan people who had mastered stone wall construction moved westward and integrated with the Yangshao people. They cultivated a new civilization that was named Laohushan Culture after the large and well-preserved Laohushan Site in today’s Liangcheng county, Ulaanqab. It was marked by stone city settlements and a tripod cauldron with hollow legs.

Three Laohushan stone city settlements have been discovered in central and southern Inner Mongolia. They were all built in sunny and sheltered places in front of mountains with irregularly-shaped stone walls. These discoveries indicate that the Laohushan people probably used professional division of labor to produce pottery.

Common examples of Laohushan pottery include the jia (a wine warmer), unpainted sand-and-pottery jars, long-necked jars, straight wall vats and small-mouthed urns. Archaeologists believe the jia and tripod cauldron were formed directly from bottles with small mouths and pointed bottoms.

The Laohushan Culture had a great influence on other primitive civilizations that flourished in nearby areas, such as the Taosi Site in Shanxi and the Lower Xiajiadian culture in Hebei.