Villagers at Jiahu Play Flutes Made from Crane Bones

Situated on the central plains of ancient China between the floodplains of the Ni and Sha rivers, the Neolithic settlement of Jiahu was occupied from around 7000 BC until approximately 5700 BC. Located north of modern Wuyang in Henan province, the site covered roughly 55,000 square meters and was bordered by a protective moat. Archaeologists have identified three chronological phases of habitation across this thirteen-century span. While many scholars classify the site as an early manifestation of the regional Peiligang culture, others emphasize its distinctive traits, including its geographic isolation several days' journey south of the primary Peiligang settlements.

Jiahu supported an organized community that grew to between 250 and 800 people. Uniquely for northern Neolithic sites of this early period, the inhabitants cultivated short-grained japonica rice alongside foxtail millet, utilizing intensive agriculture in permanent fields rather than slash-and-burn practices. Livestock such as domesticated pigs, dogs, poultry, and small numbers of cattle provided food and agricultural manure, while hunting, gathering, and fishing in nearby waterways supplied additional nutrition. Skeletal studies of several hundred excavated graves indicate that over successive generations, adult height and overall longevity increased, with third-phase adults reaching an average life expectancy of roughly forty years.