From Lushanmao to Shimao: Trajectories of Social Complexity in the Prehistoric Northern Highlands

Abstract

This study examines the trajectory of social complexity in the Northern Highlands during the late Neolithic. During the early Longshan period, the region experienced its first “cultural movement,” shaped by the Central Plains, though local communities remained relatively unstratified. By the transition to the late Longshan period, excavations at the Lushanmao site in Yan’an, Shaanxi, and the Houchengzui site in Qingshuihe, Inner Mongolia, revealed the rapid emergence of complex, chiefdom-level regional centers. Subsequently, the Shimao site in Shenmu, Shaanxi, emerged as a massive stone-walled city featuring monumental architecture, elite burials, and complex defenses, marking the birth of an early state. This leap-like development was driven by a northern “economic revolution”—the formation of a mixed agropastoral economy heavily reliant on cattle and sheep herding. This shift triggered a broader “social revolution” and initiated a second “cultural movement” that spread southward. These unprecedented developments demonstrate how the Northern Highlands transform from a peripheral recipient of external influences into a dynamic cultural core. This regional evolution profoundly impacts the Taosi site in Xiangfen, Shanxi, and propels the subsequent formation of Chinese Bronze Age civilization.