Historical origin of cave dwellings in northern Shaanxi

The dwelling form of cave architecture first appeared in the middle reaches of the Yellow River and the Loess Plateau on both sides of the Shanxi-Shaanxi Canyon. Yangshao culture dating from 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, the early and middle Neolithic culture marked by Banpo culture in the heyday of matriarchal clan society about 6,000 years ago, and the late Neolithic culture marked by Longshan culture about 4,000 years ago, caves in the Loess Plateau not only became the contents of these two cultures, but also developed quite well-the "Lu"-shaped caves appeared.

There are 45 ancestral residential buildings on Xi 'an Banpo in the southern margin of the Loess Plateau, the main forms of which are square and round semi-crypts. In northern Shaanxi, the excavated cave sites have developed into "suites", with two rooms inside and outside in the shape of "Lu", paved with slate and painted with stone powder, and the earliest fireplace in China was built. There is a cave dwelling of Yangshao culture in Shilou Chagou, Shanxi Province, with a square plane, a kitchen in the middle and a small entrance, and the prototype of the door has been formed.

The early cave settlement site of Longshan culture was discovered in Yuanzigou, Liangcheng, Inner Mongolia. There are 28 horizontal caves and 3 caves in a group, which are "one bright and one dark". The Neolithic Age is exactly what Engels called "one of the most intense revolutions experienced by mankind", and "all cultures and nations experienced their own heroic times in this period". This is also the legendary Yanhuang era marked by the Huangdi Mausoleum in Xuanyuan, northern Shaanxi. In this way, the ancestors experienced from primitive caves to artificial caves and semi-caves, which finally led to the emergence of earth caves.