On a loess slope above the left bank of the Mangniu River, north of the Qilaotu Mountains in Aohan Banner, Inner Mongolia, three separate worlds lie stacked in the earth. Discovered in 1982, the Xinglonggou archaeological complex contains three sites spanning from the early Neolithic through the Bronze Age, each associated with a different culture. Together they tell a story of how one small patch of ground witnessed the transformation of human life in northeast China: from hunters who experimented with planting millet to farmers whose fields fed entire villages and their livestock.
Xinglonggou 1, the oldest site, dates to around 6000 BC and belongs to the Xinglongwa culture. Excavated from 2001 to 2003, it revealed 145 rectangular semi-subterranean houses organized in three clusters of roughly 50 each, arranged in rows. Systematic flotation of soil samples yielded over 1,500 grains of broomcorn millet and about 20 grains of foxtail millet. The broomcorn millet was in the early stages of domestication and has been directly dated to approximately 7,700 years before present, making it the earliest directly dated millet in the archaeological record. Despite this evidence, the people here were primarily hunters and gatherers. Millet was a supplement, not a staple. Starch analysis from grinding stones and dental calculus shows they processed lily bulbs, Chinese yam, and Job's tears more than grain.
The artifact assemblage at Xinglonggou 1 includes some of the earliest jade objects found in China. The jade consists primarily of slit rings, along with tubes, chisels, and ornaments. Notably, the people favored yellow-green nephrite that was not locally available, implying trade networks that reached beyond the immediate region even in the early Neolithic. The remains of pigs, red deer, dogs, buffalo, badgers, raccoon dogs, bears, rabbits, and fish were also found, painting a picture of a community that exploited every available resource. Of the 37 excavated houses, 28 contained human burials within their floors, continuing the Xinglongwa tradition of living above the dead.
Xinglonggou 2, dating to about 3300 BC, belongs to the late Hongshan culture. Four houses and 31 storage pits were found, enclosed by a ditch. During the 2012 excavation, workers unearthed a terracotta statue that was dubbed the Ancestor God of China. Paradoxically, the Hongshan-era people at this site ate less millet, proportionally, than their Neolithic predecessors. Their diet relied more heavily on gathered nuts and fruits, including acorns, hazelnuts, Manchurian walnuts, and wild pears. Both broomcorn and foxtail millet were present but played a smaller dietary role, suggesting that the relationship between humans and cultivated crops was not a simple march toward agriculture.
By the time of Xinglonggou 3, a Bronze Age settlement from roughly 2000 to 1500 BC associated with the Lower Xiajiadian culture, the balance had shifted decisively. An overwhelming 99 percent of seeds recovered from this site were millet, compared to just 15 percent at the Neolithic site. Isotopic analysis confirms that millet consumption increased steadily across all three periods, and that people ate the grain directly rather than getting it indirectly through animals. Eventually, millet cultivation became abundant enough to feed not just humans but their domesticated pigs as well. This site also yielded the earliest evidence for soybean cultivation in northeast China. The arc from Xinglonggou 1 to Xinglonggou 3 is the arc of the agricultural revolution itself, compressed into a single hillside.
Located at 42.37°N, 120.66°E on a loess slope in Aohan Banner, Inner Mongolia, north of the Qilaotu Mountains along the Mangniu River. The terrain is semi-arid rolling hills. Nearest major airport is Chifeng Yulong Airport (ZBCF), approximately 60 km to the northwest. From altitude, the landscape shows the characteristic loess formations and river valleys of the Inner Mongolia-Liaoning border region.