Spatiotemporal Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Neolithic Ancient Sites in Henan Province Based on GIS

Spatiotemporal Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Neolithic Ancient Sites in Henan Province Based on GIS | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Spatiotemporal Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Neolithic Ancient Sites in Henan Province Based on GIS Yingxia Shi, Yike Ma, Wei Guo, Shizhen Jia, Shumei Zhang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8830445/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The research of prehistoric sites can help reveal the evolution patterns of ancient human life and provide a basis for cultural relic protection and civilization inheritance. This research employs statistical and GIS spatial analysis methods, including kernel density estimation, average nearest neighbor analysis, and standard deviational ellipse, to systematically analyze the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and influencing factors of 362 cultural sites from the Neolithic Age in Henan Province, China. The findings are discussed in conjunction with existing research on subsistence patterns, social changes, and environmental evolution. The results indicate that: (1) Regarding spatiotemporal distribution, the core area of Neolithic sites in Henan Province is located at the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region. From the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture, a "single-core" distribution pattern is observed, which then gradually expands into a "multi-core" pattern by the Longshan Culture. The Dawenkou Culture is primarily distributed in the Zhoukou and Shangqiu regions, while the Qujialing and Shijiahe Cultures are centered in the Nanyang Basin, all with a relatively limited distribution range. (2) Regarding spatial aggregation and directional characteristics, the degree of site aggregation gradually increases from the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture and slightly decreases during the Longshan stage. The directional distribution weakens significantly from the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture and then strengthens slightly during the Longshan Culture, with the spatial orientation shifting from southeast-northwest to northeast-southwest and then reverting to the original direction. The distribution range of these three cultures gradually expands, with the centroid moving northwestward and then southeastward. The sites of the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures exhibit a uniform distribution pattern, with the Dawenkou Culture indicating strong directionality in a northeast-southwest orientation. The Qujialing Culture to the Shijiahe Culture demonstrate a significant increase in directionality, both oriented southeast-northwest, with the centroid shifting northwestward. (3) Regarding natural influencing factors, they reveal that the Yangshao Culture has a broader elevation distribution range compared to the Peiligang Culture, with an overall increase during the Yangshao stage and a decrease during the Longshan stage. Sun-facing orientation weakens initially and then strengthens, while river proximity gradually diminishes. The sites of the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures have a relatively narrow elevation range, with strong sun-facing orientation and river proximity, both of which gradually intensify in the latter two cultures. Overall, the six types of cultural sites are predominantly distributed in areas with a slope below 5°, and this trend gradually strengthens, with a significant correlation between elevation and slope. (4) Regarding human influencing factors, the formation of the Central Plains Culture during the Neolithic Age in Henan is the result of interaction and integration between local and surrounding cultures, reflecting cultural exchanges between the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin. Meanwhile, the transition in subsistence patterns from foraging, fishing, and hunting to farming and livestock rearing significantly impacts social structure and civilizational development. Geographic information system Henan Province Neolithic Age ancient sites and spatiotemporal distribution Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Introduction Ancient sites, as spatiotemporal carriers bearing information about prehistoric human activities, record the process by which early humans adapted to natural and environmental changes [ 1 – 2 ] . Interpreting the environmental and survival strategy information embedded in these sites helps reveal the internal mechanism of human-environment interaction in a specific historical stage, and deepens our understanding of the dynamic relationship between human social development and natural environment [ 3 ] . These remains not only serve as tangible evidence for reconstructing early life scenarios, but also provide crucial materials for understanding the continuous process of human adaptation to the environment, offering inspirational insights for addressing contemporary survival challenges [ 4 ] . Since the Holocene, prehistoric human activities have gradually intensified, with the Neolithic Age (approximately 10,000–4,000 years ago) witnessing particularly prosperous site and cultural development [ 5 ] . Against the backdrop of China's emphasis on cultural development and its ongoing exploration of the origins of Chinese civilization, it is particularly crucial to strengthen research on the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of Neolithic ancient sites. Since the 1930s, scholars have conducted extensive research on ancient sites from multiple perspectives. In terms of research perspectives, it has involved various disciplines such as archaeology [ 5 – 8 ] , archaeobotany [ 9 – 15 ] , stratigraphy [ 8 ],[ 15 ] , and macro-geography [ 1 ],[ 5 ],[ 16 ] , and has focused on abnormal climate events [ 15 – 18 ] as well as micro-environmental factors such as elevation, slope, aspect, vegetation, climate, and water sources [ 1 – 4 ],[ 19 – 26 ] . In terms of research contents, there are regional explorations covering the entirety of China [ 4 ] , northern regions [ 27 – 28 ] , the Yellow River Basin [ 7 ],[ 11 ],[ 18 ] , the Yangtze River Basin, and the Central Plains region [ 9 ],[ 12 – 15 ],[ 29 – 32 ] , with relatively concentrated research on provinces such as Shaanxi [ 1 ],[ 25 ] , Henan [ 5 – 7 ],[ 19 – 20 ],[ 33 ] , and Shanxi [ 23 ] in the Central Plains and the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Additionally, investigations cover topics such as subsistence patterns [ 3 ],[ 31 ],[ 33 ] , social changes, agricultural economy [ 9 ] , vegetation evolution, wild plant utilization [ 11 ] , millet-rice mixed farming [ 10 ],[ 12 ] , and domestic pig domestication [ 34 ] , while also focusing on the evolution of cultural patterns, the origins of civilization [ 29 ] , as well as the spatiotemporal distribution of sites, influencing factors, and human-environment relationships [ 1 – 4 ],[ 16 ],[ 19 – 26 ] . In terms of temporal scale, the research spans various stages, including the Neolithic Age, the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, the mid-Holocene, and even historical periods. In terms of research methods, the research has gradually shifted from qualitative descriptions to quantitative analyses along with technological advancements and data enrichment, with GIS technology being widely applied [ 1 – 4 ],[ 19 – 26 ] . Through spatial analysis tools such as kernel density, aggregation, and directionality, the research can deepen the understanding of complex human-nature interactions on a broader landscape scale. Henan Province, situated in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and in the heart of the Central Plains, is one of the important birthplaces of Chinese civilization [ 7 ] . The cultural region of the Central Plains in a broad sense encompasses most of Henan, central and southern Hebei, southern Shanxi, eastern Guanzhong, and the upper reaches of the Han River, and can be divided into the "Central Plains hinterland" centered around the Mount Song area and the "Shaanxi-Shanxi-Henan border region" [ 30 ] . This region is not only the geographical center of ancient China, but also the core area where civilization evolved from diversity to unity, maintaining a continuous and complete cultural sequence from the Neolithic Age to the Erlitou Culture [ 19 ] . Henan Province, benefiting from its geographical advantage as a transition zone between the east and west and a confluence point of the north and south, as well as its suitable agricultural conditions, nurtured the prosperous Neolithic Culture and serves as a key region for exploring the origins of civilization. Since the first Neolithic archaeological excavation (the discovery of the Yangshao Culture) in 1921, this region has accumulated a wealth of research results. However, the existing work has largely focused on specific sites [ 10 – 12 ],[ 32 – 34 ] , single cultures (such as the Yangshao and the Peiligang Cultures) [ 7 ],[ 35 – 36 ] , or localized geographical units (such as the Luoyang Basin and the Yiluo River Basin) [ 10 ],[ 15 ],[ 37 ] , lacking a systematic spatiotemporal analysis that incorporates factors such as natural environment and subsistence economy. Therefore, this research compiles data on Neolithic sites in Henan Province and employs GIS spatial analysis methods, including kernel density estimation, nearest neighbor index, standard deviational ellipse, multi-value extraction to point, buffer zone, and spatial connectivity, to systematically reveal the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and influencing factors of these sites. The findings are corroborated from multiple perspectives by integrating existing research results, with a view to providing insights for understanding human development patterns and facilitating site protection and utilization. However, this research concludes by highlighting its limitations. Research Region, Data Sources, and Research Methods 1.1 Overview of the research region Henan Province, sloping downward from west to east, is situated at the transitional zone between the second and third topographic steps in China. It is surrounded by mountains on its three sides, including the Taihang Mountains to the north, the Xiao, Xiong'er, Funiu, and Waifang Mountains to the west, and the Tongbai and Dabie Mountains to the south, while with Mount Song standing tall in the central-western region (see Fig. 1 ). The Qinling-Huaihe line runs across the Province, with the area north of it falling into the warm-temperate semi-humid zone and the area south of it into the subtropical humid zone. The annual average temperature ranges from 12°C to 16°C, and the precipitation ranges from 500mm to 1200 mm, with cold winters, hot summers, and distinct seasons. The major rivers here include the Yellow River, Yiluo River, Shaying River, Huai River, and Tangbai River, among others. Considering geographical environment and archaeological cultural differences, Henan Province can be divided into the following four regions, i.e., the northern Henan region (the north and east of the Yellow River, including Anyang, Puyang, etc.) falls into the warm-temperate semi-humid monsoon climate, with deciduous broad-leaved forests as the vegetation, and its terrain includes the Taihang mountainous hilly areas and the eastern alluvial plains, with an annual average temperature of 13–14°C and the precipitation of 500-700mm; the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region (the central and western Henan, including Luoyang, Zhengzhou, etc.) is also a warm-temperate semi-humid deciduous broad-leaved forest region, with a comparable area in the Yellow River and Huai River Basins. Its topography includes mountainous hilly areas in the central and western regions, Mount Song hilly areas, the Luoyang Basin, and the eastern plain, with an annual average temperature of 12–13°C in the western part and 14–15°C in the central and eastern parts, and the precipitation of 500-800mm; the southwestern Henan region (including Nanyang, Xinyang, etc.) falls into the subtropical humid monsoon climate, with evergreen broad-leaved forests as the vegetation, and its terrain is mainly composed of the Nanyang Basin and the Tongbai-Dabie mountainous hilly areas, with an annual average temperature of 15–16°C and the precipitation of 800-1200mm; and the eastern Henan region (including Kaifeng, Shangqiu, etc.) falls into a warm-temperate semi-humid plain that is entirely within the Huai River Basin, with its climate characteristics similar to those in the eastern part of the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region. Given that ancient human activities and settlements were heavily constrained by natural conditions, the following analysis of the distribution patterns of Neolithic sites in Henan Province will be conducted on the basis of these four regions to enhance the rationality of this research. 1.2 Data sources According to the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics , immovable cultural relics are classified into national, provincial, municipal, or county-level key cultural relic protection sites based on their historical, artistic, and scientific value. Among them, national and provincial cultural relic protection sites exert high authority and profound historical and cultural value. Therefore, this research primarily focuses on ancient site remains listed in these two levels of protection catalogs [ 4 ] . The data on ancient sites are sourced from the lists of the first to eighth batches of cultural relic protection sites in Henan Province published by the People's Government of Henan Province ( https://www.henan.gov.cn/ ) and the National Cultural Heritage Administration ( http://www.ncha.gov.cn/index.html ), as well as the list of national key cultural relic protection sites. The latitude and longitude information of the sites is obtained through map capture and organized into a table. It should be emphasized that the six types of cultural sites mentioned in this paper all fall into the Neolithic remains within Henan Province. The elevation data are obtained from the 30m resolution DEM data as provided by the Geospatial Data Cloud ( https://www.gscloud.cn/ ). The base map of the administrative divisions of Henan Province is sourced from Map World ( https://www.tianditu.gov.cn/ ) and simplified with Mapshaper ( https://mapshaper.org/ ). Although the geographical environment of historical periods is not entirely the same as that of the present, the current topography has evolved from the historical basis and the overall framework has not undergone fundamental changes. Therefore, this research takes modern geographical data for analysis. And the river system data are sourced from OpenStreetMap ( https://openstreetmap/ ). 1.3 Research methods This research adopts ArcGIS Pro software for data management, spatial analysis, and map production, as this platform combines data processing capabilities with spatial visualization functions. The ancient sites are regarded as spatial point elements to analyze their distribution characteristics across different cultural periods. First, data preprocessing is conducted by importing the administrative boundaries of Henan Province, site data, DEM elevation data, and river system data into ArcGIS Pro, and then uniformly converting them to the WGS-1984-UTM-ZONE-49N projected coordinate system. Subsequently, tools such as kernel density estimation, average nearest neighbor index, and standard deviational ellipse are employed to generate density distribution maps, aggregation indices, and directional ellipses of the sites in each period, respectively. Elevation, slope, and aspect information are extracted based on the DEM data and overlaid with the site points for analysis. Buffer zone analysis and spatial connectivity are adopted to count the distribution of sites around rivers. The specific analysis methods are as follows: 1.3.1 Kernel density estimation This method is used to depict the spatial distribution density of site points. A higher kernel density value indicates a denser concentration of sites, while a lower value suggests a more dispersed distribution. The calculation formula is as follows: $$\:f\left(x\right)=\frac{1}{N{h}^{d}}\sum\:_{i=1}^{N}k\left(\frac{x-{x}_{i}}{h}\right)$$ 1 Where f(x) represents the density estimate at Point x , N represents the number of sites, h represents the search radius, d represents the data dimension, and x - x i represents the distance from the estimation point to the sample point (i.e., Ancient Site Point x i ) [ 3 – 4 ],[ 23 – 26 ] . 1.3.2 Average nearest neighbor analysis This method is used to determine the overall distribution pattern of sites, with the nearest neighbor index R 1 indicating a uniform distribution. The calculation formula is: $$\:R=\frac{{\stackrel{-}{D}}_{o}}{{\stackrel{-}{D}}_{E}}$$ 2 $$\:{\stackrel{-}{D}}_{o}\frac{\sum\:_{i=1}^{n}{d}_{i}}{n}$$ 3 $$\:{\stackrel{-}{D}}_{E}=\frac{0.5}{\sqrt{n/A}}$$ 4 Where R represents the nearest neighbor index, \(\:{\stackrel{-}{D}}_{o}\) represents the observed average nearest neighbor distance, \(\:{\stackrel{-}{D}}_{E}\) represents the expected average distance, \(\:{d}_{i}\) represents the distance from Point i to its nearest neighboring point, A represents the area of the research region, and n represents the total number of sites. Besides the R value, this tool also calculates the p value representing probability and the Z value representing standard deviation: If P 2.58, the results are significant at the 99% confidence level [ 2 ],[ 4 ],[ 16 ],[ 23 – 26 ] . 1.3.3 Standard deviational ellipse This method is used to identify the dominant direction and distribution range of sites. The major axis of the ellipse represents the primary direction, while the minor axis indicates the distribution range, and the area of the ellipse reflects the degree of spatial concentration, with a greater flattening indicating a more pronounced directionality. The calculation formula is: $$\:{E}_{x}=\sqrt{\frac{\sum\:_{i=1}^{n}({x}_{i}-\stackrel{-}{X})}{n}},\:{E}_{y}=\sqrt{\frac{\sum\:_{i=1}^{n}({y}_{i}-\stackrel{-}{Y})}{n}}$$ 5 $$\:\text{tan}\frac{{(\sum\:_{i=1}^{n}{{a}_{i}}^{2}-\sum\:_{i=1}^{n}{{b}_{i}}^{2})}^{2}+\sqrt{{(\sum\:_{i=1}^{n}{{a}_{i}}^{2}-\sum\:_{i=1}^{n}{{b}_{i}}^{2})}^{2}+4{\left(\sum\:_{i=1}^{n}{a}_{i}{b}_{i}\right)}^{2}}}{2\sum\:_{i-1}^{n}{a}_{i}{b}_{i}}$$ 6 Where \(\:{E}_{x}\) and \(\:{E}_{y}\) represent the major and minor axes of the standard deviational ellipse, ( \(\:{x}_{i}\) , \(\:{y}_{i}\) ) represent the coordinates of the site, ( \(\:\stackrel{-}{X}\) , \(\:\stackrel{-}{Y}\) ) represent the coordinates of the mean center, n represents the number of sites, \(\:\theta\:\) represents the rotation angle, and \(\:{a}_{i}\) , \(\:{b}_{i}\) represent the distances from Site i to the mean center along the major and minor axes [ 2 – 3 ],[ 23 – 26 ] . Spatiotemporal Distribution Characteristics of Neolithic Ancient Sites in Henan Province 2.1 Spatiotemporal evolution of Neolithic ancient sites The Neolithic Cultures in Henan Province mainly include the early Lijiagou site, the mid-term Peiligang Culture, the mid-to-late Yangshao Culture, the late-to-end Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures, and the end-stage Longshan Culture. Among them, early remains are rarely found. Currently, only the Lijiagou site reflects a subsistence pattern dominated by hunting and supplemented by plant utilization [ 6 ],[ 31 ],[ 36 ] . Therefore, this research does not focus on its analysis. After sorting, a total of 362 sites are identified as falling into the Peiligang, Yangshao, Longshan, Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures. Since most sites have multiple cultural layer accumulations, the number of sites for each culture is 36, 191, 263, 13, 36, and 10, respectively (see Table 1 ). From the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture and then to the Longshan Culture, the number of sites increases significantly, forming the mainstream cultural sequence in the region. In contrast, the number of sites of the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures is relatively small, falling into non-mainstream types, and shows a decreasing trend from the Qujialing period to the Shijiahe period (see Fig. 2 ). Table 1 Number of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types Cultural Types Number of Sites Age(ka BP) [5–7],[37–39] Total Number of Sites Number of State-protected Sites Number of Provincially-protected Sites Peiligang Culture 36 13 23 9.0–7.0 Yangshao Culture 191 40 151 7.0–5.0 Longshan Culture 263 46 217 4.6-4.0 Dawenkou Culture 13 5 8 6.3–4.5 Qujialing Culture 36 7 29 5.3–4.6 Shijiahe Culture 10 3 7 4.5–4.2 Note: ka BP refers to ... thousand years before present (January 1, 1950), and the cultural types are those from the Neolithic Age in Henan Province. 2.2 Spatiotemporal distribution of Neolithic ancient sites (1) Cultural sites of the mid-Neolithic period Based on the ArcGIS Pro kernel density tool and site data, a kernel density distribution map of the Peiligang Culture is generated (see Fig. 3 -a). The Culture is centered around Mount Song in central Henan and is mainly distributed in the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region, including Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Ruzhou, and Luohe, with sparse distribution in the western mountainous areas. Unlike Paleolithic sites, which were mostly concentrated in the western mountainous regions, the Peiligang Culture shows a trend of spreading towards the eastern plains, which may be related to the warming climate after the last glacial period, the eastward migration of humans along rivers, and the development of agriculture [ 5 ] . During this period, the subsistence pattern was mainly foraging, fishing and hunting, supplemented by the initial cultivation of crops such as millet, broomcorn millet, and rice [ 9 ],[ 34 ] . Consequently, sites were found in diverse habitats including both mountainous and plain areas. (2) Cultural sites of the mid-to-late Neolithic period The core area of the Yangshao Culture shifts westward to the regions of Luoyang, Mount Song, and Sanmenxia (see Fig. 3 -b). Its distribution range expands significantly compared to that of the Peiligang Culture, covering the entire Henan Province, with a more diverse range of topographical types. This stage is in the Holocene Megathermal with a warmer climate than today, which is conducive to the development of millet farming, livestock rearing, and handicrafts [ 17 ],[ 20 ] . Both the core areas of the Peiligang and Yangshao Cultures were located in the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region, where livestock rearing was relatively advanced. By the heyday of the Yangshao Culture, rice farming had become widespread south of the Yellow River in Henan, with new crop varieties such as wheat and sorghum being introduced, forming a subsistence pattern dominated by farming and rearing, as supplemented by foraging, fishing and hunting [ 9 ],[ 33 ] . Additionally, influenced by the westward expansion of the Dawenkou Culture from the east during the late Yangshao period, the Dahecun type emerged. Meanwhile, a cooling event around 5.4ka BP might have also contributed to its further development [ 17 – 20 ] . Sites to the east of Zhengzhou and Kaifeng remained relatively sparse, possibly due to frequent flooding in warm and humid climates to make it unfavorable for millet farming. Although the number of sites in the eastern plains increased compared to the previous period, it was still lower than that in the regions more suitable for millet farming, such as the western Henan hilly areas, the piedmont alluvial plains, and the Luoyang Basin. (3) Cultural sites of the late Neolithic period During the late Neolithic period, foreign cultures such as the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures had limited distributions within Henan (see Figs. 3 -d, e, f). The Dawenkou Culture was primarily distributed in the Shangqiu and Zhoukou regions of the Huaihai Plain in the eastern Henan. Due to geographical barriers, a strong dependence on water sources, and the lack of advantages for millet farming under warm and humid climatic conditions, its spread was restricted, and it gradually integrated into the early Longshan Culture [ 5 ] . The Qujialing Culture emerged slightly later, as concentrated in the Nanyang Basin and the lower reaches of the Dan River, with a small presence in the Huai River Basin. Obstructed by the Sha River and restricted by its rice-based subsistence pattern, it did not expand northward but had a greater impact on the Huai River Basin than on the Heluo region during the same period [ 33 ] . The Shijiahe Culture, which succeeded the Qujialing Culture, was similarly concentrated in the Nanyang Basin, but with a high degree of spatial overlap between the two. However, the number of sites during the Shijiahe period decreased significantly. (4) Cultural sites of the final Neolithic period The core area of the Longshan Culture shifted eastward, indicating a trend of "sites descending to lower elevations" and forming a "multi-core" structure centered on the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region and the eastern Henan plain (see Fig. 3 -c). The site density increased significantly in the Huanghuai Plain in the eastern Henan and approximately doubled in the northern Henan, while the number of sites in the Luoyang Basin and Sanmenxia Gorge in the western Henan remained roughly comparable to that during the Yangshao period. This shift might be related to the transition to a cold and dry climate with reduced precipitation in the late Holocene, prompting populations to migrate to lower-elevation plains. Additionally, the retreat of lakes and marshes in the Huai River Basin made it more suitable for millet farming [ 5 ] . Furthermore, population growth, increased productivity, further developed millet farming, and interactions with surrounding cultures collectively contributed to the widespread distribution of sites across almost the entire Henan. New crop varieties, such as soybeans, were introduced [ 9 ] , and livestock included not only local pigs but also a small number of goats and cattle from the Western Asia, forming a diversified agricultural and livestock production system [ 32 – 33 ] that supported population growth. However, sites remained relatively sparse in the east of Zhengzhou and Kaifeng due to a weak cultural foundation and fewer rivers, while the decrease in the number of sites in the Nanyang Basin might also be related to the cold and dry climate and the reduced precipitation. (5) Overall distribution of Neolithic cultural sites Throughout the Neolithic Age, the core areas of site distribution in Henan were the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region (see Fig. 3 -g), followed by the eastern Henan plain and then the Nanyang Basin in the southwestern Henan. The Zhengzhou-Luoyang region maintained relatively high levels of subsistence development, agricultural cultivation, and livestock rearing over an extended period [ 33 ] , which was closely related to its geographical location in the Yellow River Basin. 2.3 Spatial aggregation characteristics of Neolithic ancient sites Based on the average nearest neighbor analysis conducted with ArcGIS Pro, the aggregation index of various cultural sites from the Neolithic Age in Henan Province was obtained (see Table 2 ). The nearest neighbor indices of the Peiligang, Yangshao, and Longshan Cultures were all less than 1, indicating an overall aggregated spatial distribution. Among them, the Yangshao and Longshan Cultures had P 2.58, demonstrating a confidence level of over 99% for the results. The R index of the Yangshao Culture (0.702127) decreased by approximately 0.20 compared to that of the Peiligang Culture (0.902635), indicating a significant increase in aggregation; and the R index of the Longshan Culture increased by approximately 0.04 compared to that of the Yangshao Culture, indicating a slight decrease in aggregation, which might be related to its expanded distribution range and differentiated site density across regions, such as increased density in the southeastern and northern Henan and relatively decreased density in the Zhengzhou-Luoyang and southwestern Henan regions, forming a multi-center aggregation pattern. The nearest neighbor indices of the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures were all greater than 1, indicating that the sites of these three foreign cultures tend to be evenly distributed. The aforementioned distribution trends were related to social development and subsistence patterns in various periods. During the Peiligang Culture period, the population was relatively small, and the scale of sites mostly ranged from several thousand to tens of thousands of square meters, with the largest being the Tanghu site (approximately 300,000 square meters), reflecting a relatively scattered settlement pattern of the population [ 6 ] . By the Yangshao Culture period, the population grew, and the tendency to live in concentrated settlements intensified. The Longshan Culture existed during the Chalcolithic period, when agriculture and livestock rearing became the primary economic sectors. With improved productivity, accumulated social wealth, and emerged social stratification (as evidenced by increased meat consumption by the deceased in large tombs), the nuclear family became the basic unit of social production [ 10 ],[ 40 ] . Meanwhile, the complexification of social structure, the spread of foreign cultures, and the climate-induced eastward population migration due to cold and dry conditions collectively influenced the expansion and localized aggregation of its spatial distribution. As the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures were foreign cultures, they were characterized by a small number of sites, limited distribution ranges, and relatively scattered locations for some of them, thus exhibiting a uniform distribution pattern. Table 2 Spatial Aggregation Characteristics of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types Cultural Types Number of Sites Nearest Neighbor Indices ( R ) Distribution Type Z P Peiligang Culture 36 0.902635 Clumped -1.117592 0.263741 Yangshao Culture 191 0.702127 Clumped -7.875507 0.000000 Longshan Culture 263 0.739722 Clumped -8.075079 0.000000 Dawenkou Culture 13 1.239256 Random Distribution 1.650309 0.098880 Qujialing Culture 36 1.028895 Random Distribution 0.331674 0.740136 Shijiahe Culture 10 1.454706 Random Distribution 2.750813 0.005945 2.4 Spatial orientation characteristics of Neolithic ancient sites Through standard deviational ellipse analysis of various cultural sites, their spatial distribution directions and ranges were obtained (see Fig. 3 and Table 3 ). From the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture, both the major and minor axes of the ellipses increased, the flattening decreased, the orientation shifted from southeast-northwest to northeast-southwest, the directionality weakened, and the distribution range expanded significantly (see Table 3 and Figs. 3 -a, b, g). This change is closely related to the outward expansion of the Yangshao Culture and the increase in the number of sites, with particularly notable growth in the number of sites in the eastern Henan plain. In the Longshan Culture stage, both the major and minor axes continued to increase, the flattening rose again, the orientation reverted to southeast-northwest, the directionality slightly strengthened, and the distribution range further expanded (see Table 3 and Figs. 3 -b, c, g), which aligns with the spatial expansion trend of a significant increase in Longshan Culture sites in the eastern Henan plain and a doubling in number in the northern Henan region. Additionally, the centroid of the ellipse shifted westward by approximately 27'45.31" (about 43.74km) and northward by approximately 3'03.44" (about 5.6km) from the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture; and in the Longshan Culture, it shifted eastward by approximately 42'55.05" (about 67.07km) and southward by approximately 3'16.70" (about 5.1km) (see Fig. 3 -g). This movement trajectory is consistent with the central changes reflected in kernel density and aggregation analysis, further confirming the spatial evolution patterns of these three cultures. The ellipses for both the Qujialing Culture and the Shijiahe Culture exhibited a southeast-northwest orientation, with the latter showing an increase in the major axis, a decrease in the minor axis, a significant rise in flattening, enhanced directionality, and a trend towards a more elongated distribution range, reflecting a distinct spatial continuity between the two (see Table 3 and Figs. 3 -e, f, g). This result is also related to the reduction in the number of Shijiahe Culture sites and the contraction of their distribution ranges. During this period, the centroid shifted slightly northwestward (westward by approximately 10'01.73" (about 15.33km) and northward by approximately 04'17.54" (about 1.1km)), further supporting the judgment of cultural continuity. The ellipse for the Dawenkou Culture exhibited a northeast-southwest orientation with strong directionality, and its centroid position was relatively independent (see Table 3 and Figs. 3 -d, g), indicating that although this Culture intersected with local cultures in Henan, there was no spatial inheritance in terms of orientation. This aligns with its development as a foreign culture with a limited distribution range along rivers and its eventual integration into the early Longshan Culture. Table 3 Distribution Direction of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types Cultural Types Major Axis(km) Minor Axis(km) Flattening Rotation Angle(°) Centroid Spatial Direction Longitude Latitude Peiligang Culture 130.201 99.375 0.24 155.112 113°34′42.56″ 34°03′58.68″ Southeast-northwest Yangshao Culture 145.554 142.518 0.02 54.800 113°06′57.25″ 34°07′02.12″ Northeast-southwest Longshan Culture 165.236 143.652 0.13 150.436 113°49′52.30″ 34°03′45.42″ Southeast-northwest Dawenkou Culture 136.549 73.785 0.46 69.090 114°31′06.39″ 33°42′26.45″ Northeast-southwest Qujialing Culture 154.622 79.332 0.49 103.326 113°05′40.03″ 32°58′22.19″ Southeast-northwest Shijiahe Culture 213.499 58.882 0.72 106.911 112°55′38.30″ 33°02′39.73″ Southeast-northwest Influencing Factors of Spatiotemporal Distribution Characteristics during the Neolithic Age The survival and activities of ancient humans were significantly constrained by natural conditions such as terrain and rivers. The distribution areas of sites typically reflect the suitable environments for obtaining survival resources at that time [ 1 ],[ 4 ],[ 23 ] . Henan Province boasts diverse landform types. Apart from natural factors, cultural interactions and the evolution of subsistence patterns also exert significant influences on the formation and development of ancient society. To this end, this research analyzes the influence of natural elements such as elevation, slope, aspect, and distance from rivers, as combined with human factors, on the spatial distribution of sites. 3.1 Elevation Henan Province is high in the west and low in the east, encompassing various landforms such as mountains, plains, hills, and basins. To analyze the elevation characteristics of site distribution, the elevation is divided into five intervals, i.e., 1000m [ 1 ] ; and the site points are then superimposed with the elevation data for analysis (see Fig. 4 , Table 4 , and Fig. 5 ). Sites of the Peiligang Culture are mainly distributed within the 50-500m range, with the highest proportion in the 50-100m interval, which is related to the fact that early agriculture was mainly carried out in plains, although foraging, fishing and hunting still dominated at this stage. Sites of the Yangshao Culture are mainly distributed within a range similar to those of the Peiligang stage, but the overall elevation range has expanded, with sites appearing above 1000m in elevation. The proportion in the < 100m interval has decreased, while the proportions in the intervals above 100m all have increased, reflecting advancements in agricultural development and enhanced human adaptability. Sites of the Longshan Culture are concentrated in the Zhengzhou-Luoyang and southeastern Henan plains at elevations below 200m. Compared with the Yangshao Culture, the proportion in the < 100m interval has increased, while the proportions in the intervals above 100m have decreased, indicating that humans were more inclined to choose flat low-lying areas with superior water and soil conditions for living and production. Sites of the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures all fall into foreign cultures, and are distributed at relatively lower elevations and within concentrated ranges, reflecting a strong dependence on water sources and terrain. Among them, the Qujialing and Shijiahe Cultures, primarily engaged in rice cultivation, had particularly significant demands for water sources [ 5 ] . According to the elevation box plot of the six types of cultural sites (see Fig. 5 ), the medians from high to low are in the order of Yangshao, Qujialing, Shijiahe, Peiligang, Longshan, and Dawenkou Culture. The medians are all positioned towards the lower part of the box, and the upper dotted lines are significantly longer than the lower dotted lines, indicating the presence of some site points at relatively high elevations. The Yangshao and Longshan Cultures, as well as the Qujialing and Shijiahe Cultures, overlap in terms of high-elevation site points, reflecting a certain degree of continuity. The main body of the box is concentrated within the 50-200m interval, further confirming the primary trend in elevation distribution for each culture. Table 4 Proportion of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types at Different Elevations Cultural Types Proportion of Ancient Sites ≤ 50m 50-100m 100-200m 200-500m 500-1000m ≥ 1000m Peiligang Culture 13.89% 38.89% 22.22% 22.22% 2.78% 0.00% Yangshao Culture 10.99% 28.80% 30.89% 22.51% 6.28% 0.52% Longshan Culture 26.62% 37.64% 23.19% 10.27% 1.90% 0.38% Dawenkou Culture 69.23% 23.08% 7.69% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% Qujialing Culture 16.67% 30.56% 38.89% 11.11% 2.78% 0.00% Shijiahe Culture 20.00% 30.00% 30.00% 10.00% 10.00% 0.00% 3.2 Slope With reference to the slope classification system released by the Commission on Geomorphological Survey and Mapping of the International Geographical Union, and in combination with the actual terrain in Henan Province, slopes are divided into five categories, i.e., flat slopes (0–2°), gentle slopes (2–5°), moderate slopes (5–15°), relatively steep slopes (15–25°), and steep slopes (25–90°). Among them, flat and gentle slopes are more suitable for human habitation and activities [ 1 – 3 ] . Based on this classification, a slope distribution map of Henan Province was generated with DEM data (see Fig. 6 ), and the slope distributions of sites for each culture were statistically analyzed (see Table 5 and Fig. 7 ). Sites of the Peiligang and Yangshao Culture are predominantly concentrated in areas with slopes below 5°, accounting for about 80%. Sites on moderate slopes account for about 16%, and there are very few sites on slopes above 15°. During the Yangshao Culture, the proportion of sites on flat slopes increased slightly, while the proportion on steep slopes decreased. This is related to the initial development and subsequent maturation of agriculture, which leads to a greater preference for flat terrain. By the Longshan Culture period, the proportions of flat-slope and gentle-slope sites further increased, while the proportion of sites on slopes steeper than gentle slopes decreased, reflecting the higher demand for flat land as driven by the agricultural development (such as the cultivation of millet and broomcorn millet). All sites of the Dawenkou Culture in Henan Province are located on flat and gentle slopes, which aligns with their concentrated distribution in the eastern Henan plain and their frequent occurrence along river lowlands. Sites of the Qujialing Culture are mainly distributed on flat and gentle slopes, with relatively few ones on moderate and relatively steep slopes. By the Shijiahe Culture period, the proportion of sites on flat slopes decreases significantly, while the proportion on gentle slopes increases significantly. This may be related to the decrease in the number of sites, their more dispersed distribution, and the adaptability of rice cultivation to slightly gentle slopes. From the slope box plot of the six types of cultural sites (see Fig. 7 ), the median slopes all fall within the range of 2-4.5°. The medians of the Yangshao and Longshan Cultures, as well as the Qujialing and Shijiahe Cultures are all positioned towards the lower part of the box, and the upper dotted lines are significantly longer than the lower dotted lines, indicating the presence of some site points at relatively high slopes. The Yangshao and Longshan Cultures, as well as the Qujialing and Shijiahe Cultures, overlap in terms of high-slope site points, indicating a certain degree of distribution continuity. The main body of the box is concentrated within the range of 1–5°; and from the Yangshao Culture to the Longshan Culture, the overall slopes of the sites show a decreasing trend, further confirming the previous analysis. Table 5 Proportion of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types at Different Slopes Cultural Types Proportion of Ancient Sites 0–2° 2–5° 5–15° 15–25° 25–90° Peiligang Culture 38.89% 38.89% 16.67% 2.78% 2.78% Yangshao Culture 40.31% 38.22% 16.23% 3.14% 2.09% Longshan Culture 46.77% 40.30% 11.41% 0.76% 0.76% Dawenkou Culture 38.46% 61.54% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% Qujialing Culture 36.11% 47.22% 13.89% 2.78% 0.00% Shijiahe Culture 20.00% 60.00% 10.00% 10.00% 0.00% 3.3 Aspect Aspect is a key topographic factor that affects sunlight exposure. In the Northern Hemisphere, south-facing slopes receive the most abundant sunlight. Based on the actual conditions in Henan Province, this research categorizes aspects into 9 categories [ 23 ] . The aspect information for each cultural site was extracted with ArcGIS Pro (see Fig. 8 ) and statistically analyzed (see Table 6 and Fig. 9 ). Sites of the Peiligang Culture are mainly distributed on sun-facing or relatively sun-facing slopes such as southeast, west, south, and east. By the Yangshao Culture period, the proportion of sites in the aforementioned four aspects decreases, while the proportions in the remaining six aspects generally increases. Among them, the northwest, southwest, and northeast aspects have the highest proportions, followed by the four common aspects during the Peiligang period. This indicates an expansion in the range of aspect for site distribution and a slight weakening in sun-facing orientation, which may be related to the rise in temperature during the Holocene Megathermal. Sites of the Longshan Culture are most prevalent on northwest-facing slopes, followed by south, east, and southwest-facing slopes, showing an enhanced sun-facing orientation compared to the Yangshao Culture. Except for flat and north-facing slopes, the differences in proportions among various aspects are relatively small, which may be related to the climate's becoming drier and cooler, the demand of dry-farming agriculture for local microclimates, and the further expansion of agricultural range. Sites of the Dawenkou Culture are concentrated on southwest and northwest-facing slopes, followed by south-facing slopes, demonstrating a strong sun-facing orientation, which may correspond to the climatic transition from warm and humid conditions during the Yangshao Culture to dry and cool conditions during the early Longshan Culture. Sites of the Qujialing Culture are predominantly oriented toward northwest, southwest, west, and northeast, reflecting a warm and humid climatic background; while sites of the Shijiahe Culture are relatively more common on west and north-facing slopes, which may be related to a decrease in precipitation, although the trend is not very obvious due to the small number of sites. From the aspect box plot of the six types of cultural sites (see Fig. 9 ), the median aspect of the Peiligang to Yangshao Culture and then to the Longshan Culture first increases and then decreases, indicating that the sun-facing orientation first weakens and then strengthens. The median of the Qujialing to Shijiahe Culture also decreases, with an increased sun-facing orientation. The median aspect of the six types is between 180 and 220° (south to southwest), and the main body of the box is concentrated within the 90–300° range (east, southeast, south, southwest, west, and northwest), indicating an overall strong sun-facing orientation, which aligns with the previous analysis. Table 6 Proportion of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types at Different Aspects Cultural Types Proportion of Ancient Sites Flat Ground (-1°) North(0~ 22.5°) Northeast(22.5- 67.5°) East(67.5- 112.5°) Southeast(112.5- 157.5°) South(157.5- 202.5°) Southwest(202.5- 247.5°) West(247.5- 292.5°) Northwest(292.5- 337.5°) North(337.5- 360°) Peiligang Culture 0.00% 2.78% 5.56% 13.89% 22.22% 16.67% 8.33% 22.22% 8.33% 0.00% Yangshao Culture 1.57% 4.71% 12.57% 10.47% 10.99% 10.99% 16.23% 11.52% 16.75% 4.19% Longshan Culture 2.28% 6.46% 11.03% 12.17% 10.27% 14.45% 12.55% 11.03% 16.35% 3.42% Dawenkou Culture 0.00% 7.69% 7.69% 0.00% 7.69% 15.38% 30.77% 7.69% 23.08% 0.00% Qujialing Culture 0.00% 2.78% 16.67% 8.33% 5.56% 8.33% 16.67% 16.67% 19.44% 5.56% Shijiahe Culture 0.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 0.00% 20.00% 10.00% 20.00% 3.4 Distance from rivers Based on the distribution characteristics of river systems in Henan Province, 4 buffer zones are set, i.e., within 1km, 1-3km, 3-10km, and beyond 10km [ 1 – 3 ] . The distribution of sites (see Fig. 10 ) and their proportions (see Table 7 and Fig. 11 ) are analyzed with the buffer tool in ArcGIS Pro. Although there have been changes in the positions of ancient and modern rivers, the main river basin patterns still hold reference value. Sites of the Peiligang Culture are located within 10km from rivers, with the highest concentration within 1km, followed by distances of 1-3km and 3-10km, indicating a strong river proximity. During the Yangshao Culture period, the proportion of sites within 1km decreased, and sites appeared beyond 10km, indicating a weakening of the river proximity. This may be related to the warm and humid climate and abundant precipitation during the Holocene Megathermal. In the Longshan Culture stage, the proportions of sites within 1km and beyond 10km increased significantly, while the proportions in the 1-3km and 3-10km intervals decreased, reflecting that under a climate trending towards dryness and coldness, the river proximity strengthened in some areas, while the selection of settlement sites also tended more towards areas suitable for agricultural activities, resulting in regional differentiation in the overall river proximity. The Dawenkou Culture within Henan was concentrated in areas 1-10km from rivers, primarily in the middle and lower reaches of the Ying River, indicating an obvious river proximity but a relatively weak diffusion. Sites of the Qujialing Culture are mainly found within 1km from rivers, followed by those in the 1-10km range, with the fewest beyond 10km. Their strong river proximity is closely related to the dependence of rice cultivation on water resources. Compared to the Qujialing Culture, the Shijiahe Culture shows an increase in the proportion of sites within 1km and in the 1-3km range, while the proportion beyond 3km decreases, indicating a further enhanced river proximity, which may be related to a drier and colder climate. From the kernel density estimation plot of distance from rivers (see Fig. 11 ), the kernel density peaks of the six types of cultural sites all appear in the 0.60-0.95km interval. The peak intensities from high to low are in the order of Shijiahe, Longshan, Yangshao, Peiligang, Qujialing, and Dawenkou Culture, and the corresponding peak distances increase successively, indicating that all cultures have a relatively strong river proximity, but their intensities decrease slightly in sequence. Furthermore, the kernel density curves of each culture rise with increasing distance before the peak and decline with increasing distance after the peak. Despite local fluctuations, the overall trend remains consistent, further supporting the aforementioned analytical results. Table 7 Proportion of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types according to Distance from Rivers Cultural Types Proportion of Ancient Sites 10km Peiligang Culture 44.44% 33.33% 22.22% 0.00% Yangshao Culture 37.70% 38.22% 23.56% 0.52% Longshan Culture 45.25% 34.98% 17.87% 19.39% Dawenkou Culture 38.46% 46.15% 7.69% 7.69% Qujialing Culture 41.67% 33.33% 22.22% 2.78% Shijiahe Culture 50.00% 40.00% 10.00% 0.00% 3.5 Correlation of natural factors The distribution of sites is comprehensively influenced by multiple natural factors, including elevation, slope, aspect, and distance from rivers, with varying degrees of correlation among these factors (see Fig. 12 ). A strong positive correlation exists between elevation and slope of all six types of cultural sites (with r values being 0.64, 0.41, 0.63, 0.40, 0.61, and 0.88, respectively), indicating that sites at higher elevations tend to have steeper slopes, while those at lower elevations have gentler slopes, showing a coordinated trend of concurrent change. A strong positive correlation is also observed between slope and distance from rivers for the Dawenkou and Shijiahe Cultures (with r values being 0.41 and 0.74, respectively), as well as between elevation and distance from rivers (with r values being 0.79 and 0.77, respectively), reflecting the spatial association that sites of these two cultural types are usually farther from rivers at higher and steeper locations and closer to rivers at lower and gentler locations. Additionally, there is a certain positive correlation between elevation and aspect in the Shijiahe Culture ( r = 0.45), indicating a tendency for elevation, slope, and aspect to increase or decrease together during this stage. 3.6 Human factors The formation of the Central Plains Culture during the Neolithic Age in Henan was the result of collisions, exchanges, and integrations between local culture and various surrounding primitive cultures [ 35 – 39 ] . The Peiligang Culture originated locally and laid the foundation for subsequent cultural development; based on this, the Yangshao Culture developed into the dominant culture during its heyday; and subsequently, the Longshan Culture emerged as the new dominant local culture. These three cultures are sequentially connected in time and spatially inherited, all falling into the cultural sequence of the Yellow River Basin. Additionally, Henan was also influenced by foreign cultures, where the Dawenkou Culture (appearing in the middle Yangshao period and ending in the early Longshan period) (see Fig. 2 ) represented a western expansion of the Dawenkou Culture from Shandong, primarily distributed in the eastern Henan plain, and eventually merged into the Longshan Culture; the Qujialing Culture (appearing at the end of the Yangshao period and ending in the early Longshan period) originated from the Hubei region in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, mainly influencing the southern Henan; and the Shijiahe Culture (appearing in the early Longshan period and ending in the mid-Longshan period) inherited from the Qujialing Culture and also represented the northward spread of the Yangtze River Basin Culture, with its influence also concentrated in the southern Henan. The evolution of subsistence patterns has a significant impact on social structure and civilizational development [ 9 ],[ 33 ] . In the early Neolithic Age in Henan, foraging, fishing and hunting were the primary activities. By the middle period, livestock rearing and supplementary crop cultivation began to emerge. The use of crops such as millet, broomcorn millet, rice, and hemp, as coupled with stone production tools, promoted the development of clan economies and the formation of small settlements. In the late period, the pattern shifted to a focus on farming and rearing, as supplemented by foraging, fishing, and hunting. The emergence of plow agriculture, an increase in crop varieties, and advancements in production tools led to the manifestation of social division of labor and class differentiation, promoting the rise of medium-sized settlements and painted pottery culture. Towards the end of this period, crop varieties (such as soybeans and wheat) and livestock (such as cattle and sheep) were further diversified, forming a multifaceted agricultural production system. The continued development of mixed plow-hoe agriculture led to increased grain output, driving intensified social class differentiation, the emergence of large settlements, and significant progress in culture, etiquette, and technology. Summary and Discussion 4.1 Summary Based on published site data and related research, this paper explores the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and influencing factors of different cultural sites during the Neolithic Age in Henan Province by applying the spatial analysis method in ArcGIS Pro. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Regarding spatiotemporal distribution, the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region serves as the core area for Neolithic cultural sites in Henan, yet its spatial pattern has evolved across different periods. The Peiligang Culture is mainly distributed along the southeastern foothills of Mount Song, while the Yangshao Culture is centered in the Luoyang Basin and shifts slightly westward, both exhibiting a "single-core" distribution. In contrast, the Longshan Culture expands northward across the Yellow River to the northern Henan, southeastward along the Ying River-Ru River to the lower reaches of the Huai River, and westward into the Sanmenxia Valley, transforming into a "multi-core" diffusion pattern. During the late to final periods, the distribution of foreign cultures is limited, as the Dawenkou Culture is centered around Zhoukou and Shangqiu, while the Qujialing and Shijiahe Cultures are centered in the Nanyang Basin. Regarding spatial aggregation and directional characteristics, the degree of site aggregation gradually increases from the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture and slightly decreases during the Longshan stage. The directional distribution weakens from the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture and then slightly strengthens during the Longshan Culture, with the principal axis orientation shifting from southeast-northwest to northeast-southwest and then reverting to southeast-northwest. The distribution range of these three cultures gradually expands, with the centroid shifting northwestward and then southeastward. The sites of the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures exhibit a uniform distribution pattern, with the Dawenkou Culture indicating strong directionality in a northeast-southwest orientation. The Qujialing Culture to the Shijiahe Culture demonstrate a significant increase in directionality, both oriented southeast-northwest, with the centroid shifting northwestward. (2) Regarding natural influencing factors, the elevation distribution range of sites from the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture gradually expands as being primarily within areas below 200m, with an overall increase in elevation during the Yangshao stage and a decrease during the Longshan stage. The preference for aspect (sun-facing orientation) weakens initially and then strengthens during the Longshan stage, while the river proximity gradually decreases. The Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures have a relatively narrow elevation range, all concentrated within areas below 200m, with a strong preference for aspect and river proximity, which further intensifies from the Qujialing to the Shijiahe stage. Overall, the six types of cultural sites are predominantly distributed in areas with a slope below 5°, and this trend gradually strengthens, with a significant positive correlation between elevation and slope. Regarding human influencing factors, the formation of the Central Plains Culture during the Neolithic Age in Henan is the result of collision and exchange between local and surrounding cultures, also reflecting the cultural integration between the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin. And the transition in subsistence patterns from foraging, fishing, and hunting to various crop cultivation and livestock rearing significantly impacts social structure and civilizational development. 4.2 Discussion This research has certain limitations, for example, the data used only cover the sites classified as national and provincial key cultural relic protection sites, excluding municipal and county protection sites and other types of cultural heritage, and additionally, due to the lack of high-resolution paleoenvironmental data, it is challenging to accurately reconstruct the terrain and river systems of historical periods. Therefore, the analysis is solely based on existing site data and contemporary geographic information. Nevertheless, this research supplements the deficiencies in spatial analysis of sites in this region to a considerable extent, and can provide a reference for subsequent research, site protection, and utilization. Declarations Acknowledgements Not applicable. Funding This study received financial support from the 2026 Annual Henan Province Educational Strong Province Special Research Project: “Research on Adaptive Protection Approaches for the Ruins of Luoyang City from Sui and Tang Dynasties from the Perspective of ‘Anchoring-Layering’” (grant number 2026JYQS720, granted to Yingxia Shi). Availability of data and materials The data on ancient sites are sourced from the lists of the first to eighth batches of cultural relic protection sites in Henan Province published by the People's Government of Henan Province (https://www.henan.gov.cn/) and the National Cultural Heritage Administration (http://www.ncha.gov.cn/index.html), as well as the list of national key cultural relic protection sites.The elevation data are obtained from the 30m resolution DEM data as provided by the Geospatial Data Cloud (https://www.gscloud.cn/). The base map of the administrative divisions of Henan Province is sourced from Map World (https://www.tianditu.gov.cn/) and simplified with Mapshaper (https://mapshaper.org/).And the river system data are sourced from OpenStreetMap (https://openstreetmap/). Author contributions Y.S. and Y.M. contributed to writing the full manuscript, collecting, analyzing, and visualizing data, and preparing the figures. W.G., S.J., and S.Z. contributed to organizing the article structure, reviewing and editing the writing, guiding and managing the overall work, and supervising the project. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. References Litao Z et al. Temporal and spatial distribution of ancient sites in Shaanxi Province using geographic information systems (GIS). Herit Sci.2021,9(1). Spatiotemporal evolution and human-. environment relationships of early cultural sites from the Longshan to Xia-Shang periods in Henan Province, China. Herit Sci. 2025;13(1):74. Zhang H, et al. The Paleolithic-Bronze age sites in Sichuan Province: Distribution and influencing factors. Mar Geol Quaternary Geol. 2025;45(01):188–98. Xiaojia L. Determination of the temporal–spatial distribution patterns of ancient heritage sites in China and their influencing factors via. GIS[J] Herit Sci,2024,12(1). Tan Shixin. Distribution Changes of Archaeological Cultural Types in Henan during the Mid-Holocene [J]. Agricultural Archaeol, 2017, (01): 21–5. Zhang Gaoling. Archaeological Discoveries and Research on the Neolithic Age in Henan Since the Founding of New China [J]. China National Exhibition; 2022. pp. 203–6. 14. Zhao Lingjie. Tracing the Origins of Neolithic Culture in the Yellow River Basin of China [J]. Henan Libr J. 2022;42(10):122–3. Yuan Guangkuo. Archaeological Research on the Neolithic Age in Henan [M]. Beijing: Science, September 2020.09. Wang Huibin L. Haifeng. Study on the Interactive Development of Agricultural Economy and Social Progress in the Central Plains During the Neolithic Age [J]. Agricultural Archaeol, 2025, (03): 48–53. Fan Y, Qimeng D, ,Baozeng C et al. The Agriculture and Society in the Yiluo River Basin: Archaeobotanical Evidence From the Suyang Site[J].Frontiers in Earth Science,2022,10. Bestel S, Bao Y, ,Zhong H, et al. Wild plant use and multi-cropping at the early Neolithic Zhuzhai site in the middle Yellow River region. China[J] Holocene. 2018;28(2):195–207. Wang C, Lu H, ,Gu W et al. Temporal changes of mixed millet and rice agriculture in Neolithic-Bronze Age Central Plain, China: Archaeobotanical evidence from the Zhuzhai site[J].The Holocene,2018,28(5):738–54. Xiaolin R, Junjie X, ,Hui W et al. Holocene fluctuations in vegetation and human population demonstrate social resilience in the prehistory of the Central Plains of China[J].Environmental Research Letters,2021,16(5). Jing Y, Campbell R, ,Castellano L et al. Subsistence and persistence: agriculture in the Central Plains of China through the Neolithic to Bronze Age transition[J].Antiquity,2020,94(376):900–15. Chen L, Li K. Mid-Holocene hydroclimatic changes drove Neolithic agricultural development in the Luoyang Basin of the Central Plains, China[J].Catena,2025,258109241-109241. Luan Fuming X, Heigang W. Spatial-temporal Changes and Man-land Relationship of Cultural Heritage Sites in Xinjiang [J]. Areal Res Dev. 2017;36(05):134–9. Jiang S, Luo W, ,Zhou X et al. Collapse of prehistoric cultures in central-eastern China linked to the El Niño-like states during the 4.2 ka event[J]. Glob Planet Change,2025,248104772–104772. Du L, Ma M, Lu Y, Dong J, Dong G. How Did Human Activity and Climate Change Influence Animal Exploitation During 7500–2000 BP in the Yellow River Valley, China? Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 8 (2020). Li Zhongxuan Z, Cheng W, Guoxi, et al. Spatial and temporal distribution of prehistoric human sites and its driving factors in Henan province [J]. Acta Geogr Sin. 2013;68(11):1527–37. Li Z, Zhu C, ,Wu G et al. Spatial pattern and temporal trend of prehistoric human sites and its driving factors in Henan Province, Central China[J]. J Geographical Sci 2015,25(9):1109–21. Tan B, Wang H, Wang X et al. The study of early human settlement preference and settlement prediction in Xinjiang, China. Sci Rep (Nature Publisher Group). 2022,12(1). Wu L, Sun X, ,Sun W et al. Evolution of Neolithic site distribution (9.0–4.0 ka BP) in Anhui, East China[J]. J Geographical Sci 2020,30(9):1451–66. Gao Mingcan, Lü Hongyi Z, Bingxue, et al. Study on Time and Space Distribution of Early Cultural Sites in Hedong Region [J]. Areal Res Dev. 2022;41(01):175–80. Deping C, Chengkun H, ,Feiyang L. Spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of cultural heritage sites and their relationship with natural and cultural environment in the northern Fujian. China[J] Herit Sci,2024,12(1). Li K, Huang Z, ,Pang Y et al. Cultural heritage of the Qin-Shu Ancient Road in Shaanxi: Spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors.[J].PloS one,2025,20(9):e0331676. Chao H, Chang X, ,Xu C. Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Sanxingdui (3.7–3.1 ka BP) and Shi’erqiao (3.1–2.6 ka BP) Sites on the Chengdu Plain. Southwest China[J] Land 2025,14(12):2379–2379. Jishuai Y, Dongju Z, ,Xiaoyan Y et al. Sustainable intensification of millet–pig agriculture in Neolithic North China[J].Nature Sustainability,2022,5(9):780–6. Liu L, Wang J, ,Liu H. The brewing function of the first amphorae in the Neolithic Yangshao culture. North China[J] Archaeol Anthropol Sci. 2020;12(1):331–55. Zhang Juzhong G, Chunguang. Evolution of the Cultural Pattern and the Emergence of Rudimentary Civilizations in the Central Plains during the Early Neolithic Age [J]. South Cult Relics, 2023, (06): 21–30. Dai Xiangming. Defining the Central Plains: New Perspectives on the Central Plains Cultural Area from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age [J]. Social Sci Digest, 2025, (04): 45–7. Chen Xianglong. The Development of Subsistence Economy and Social Changes in the Central Plains during the Neolithic Age: Reflections Based on Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotope Research Findings in Henan [J]. South Cult Relics, 2021, (01): 179–90. Shen Y, Li W, ,Kemuyama Y, et al. Interplay of dietary diversity and mobility of the Late Neolithic people in the Central Plains of China: multi-isotope analysis at the Haojiatai site:Anthropology in the Dawn of Chinese Civilization. Original Articles[J] Anthropol Sci. 2024;132(2):85–104. Bai Qian. A Preliminary Study on the Subsistence Modes in the Henan Region during the Neolithic Age [J]. South Cult Relics, 2020, (01): 167–78. Yue Y, Xianglong C, ,Anke H et al. Pig domestication and human subsistence at the early Neolithic site of Guanjia (6100–5500 BC), Central China[J].Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences,2024,16(3). Ma Xiaolin. Discovery and Research on the Miaodigou Phase Remains of Yangshao Culture in Henan [J]. Cult Relics Cent China, 2021, (05): 39–51. Yuan Guangkuo. The Path of Archaeological Research on the Neolithic Age in the Central Plains: Reflections on the Series of Papers Studies on the Peiligang Culture [J]. South Cult Relics, 2021, (02): 183–7. Sun B, Yang Y, ,Ma J et al. Phytolith analysis reveals crop structural changes from the late Peiligang to Shijiahe Cultural Periods (ca. 7.4–4.2 ka BP) at the Huangshan site in Nanyang Basin, Central China[J].Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports,2025,67105419-105419. Yuan Guangkuo. The Peiligang Culture and Related Issues: An Archaeometric Perspective [J]. South Cult Relics, 2021, (02): 183–7. Zichen X, Ying H, ,Siwei S et al. Changes and continuity in pottery production and use at Wujiafentou in the core zone of Youziling and Shijiahe cultures in central China[J].Heritage Science,2024,12(1). Zhang Xuelian Q, Shihua Z, Jian, et al. Studies on Diet of the Ancient People of the Yangshao Cultural Sites in the Central Plains [J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica. 2010;29(02):197–207. Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8830445","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":600257290,"identity":"2b52584d-730e-4566-839b-c91eacad439f","order_by":0,"name":"Yingxia Shi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Henan Agricultural University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yingxia","middleName":"","lastName":"Shi","suffix":""},{"id":600257291,"identity":"4ce96525-e945-4842-a136-cbf4bb14e1b3","order_by":1,"name":"Yike Ma","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Henan Agricultural University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yike","middleName":"","lastName":"Ma","suffix":""},{"id":600257292,"identity":"6f129e7c-4431-4efc-ab52-51fff05b3963","order_by":2,"name":"Wei Guo","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"China Agricultural University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wei","middleName":"","lastName":"Guo","suffix":""},{"id":600257293,"identity":"c4c6726d-1065-4360-a6d5-a7b3115efb68","order_by":3,"name":"Shizhen Jia","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Beijing City University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shizhen","middleName":"","lastName":"Jia","suffix":""},{"id":600257294,"identity":"0d06f9a1-288e-4ebc-8377-b71db9e2e02b","order_by":4,"name":"Shumei Zhang","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Henan Agricultural University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shumei","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-09 12:38:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8830445/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8830445/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":104401910,"identity":"d8b3b223-2c51-4a6f-bb84-fed008391ec4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-11 12:13:53","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":4719438,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eGeographical Location of Henan Province, China\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8830445/v1/678f254b3e92c34765cec517.png"},{"id":103902879,"identity":"67f84b7c-f599-4f41-ae4d-1fe473c43123","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-04 10:14:00","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":269925,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eNumber of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8830445/v1/010e973edd67b5a5bcbedbb9.png"},{"id":103902880,"identity":"9f465a42-7af1-4148-8151-b9b8661abf20","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-04 10:14:00","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":4447477,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eKernel Density and Distribution Direction of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8830445/v1/3eac85780360c97bba019742.png"},{"id":104401526,"identity":"d5b1f8d0-85ac-4a31-8022-4b02d37b28fe","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-11 12:12:55","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":4235438,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eElevation Distribution of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8830445/v1/72282d8312336254a9c56cc7.png"},{"id":104401671,"identity":"b3278db2-d044-440d-80b5-6f5f3f90032d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-11 12:13:14","extension":"png","order_by":5,"title":"Figure 5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":460874,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eElevation Scatter and Box Plot of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8830445/v1/edf53a55aceccb11aa188fd9.png"},{"id":104401365,"identity":"0b6ca862-8904-4619-96b8-ff063aa837c1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-11 12:12:30","extension":"png","order_by":6,"title":"Figure 6","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":6122248,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSlope Distribution of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage6.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8830445/v1/2d09d6732c996da338f1a3ab.png"},{"id":104401396,"identity":"8457574a-cbef-47c3-833d-f5ec3fec4506","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-11 12:12:35","extension":"png","order_by":7,"title":"Figure 7","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":464421,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSlope Scatter and Box Plot of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage7.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8830445/v1/b77b9840f6f5de211c2f6c64.png"},{"id":103902888,"identity":"0136002e-e842-4628-b607-a6624bd34084","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-04 10:14:00","extension":"png","order_by":8,"title":"Figure 8","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":6912451,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eAspect Distribution of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage8.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8830445/v1/3631cb474e8e3596e2f352e4.png"},{"id":103902883,"identity":"d540b1cf-2544-4128-b5d3-c4dcb422ee0c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-04 10:14:00","extension":"png","order_by":9,"title":"Figure 9","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":487794,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eAspect Scatter and Box Plot of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage9.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8830445/v1/d035f9b871838bd6a63cce36.png"},{"id":103902885,"identity":"b1acb3a6-28e0-43ce-a257-f32c1cf2efec","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-04 10:14:00","extension":"png","order_by":10,"title":"Figure 10","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":5590383,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eDistribution of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types according to Distance from Rivers\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage10.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8830445/v1/61beb8656427393cbaaf7f2e.png"},{"id":103902886,"identity":"8e3de508-273d-4cf5-9424-b1ffb8556ede","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-04 10:14:00","extension":"png","order_by":11,"title":"Figure 11","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":777241,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eKDE Plot of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types according to Distance from Rivers\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage11.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8830445/v1/0afc4a6e3f84e79c26c3397f.png"},{"id":103902887,"identity":"589cc9e2-7949-4d70-ac81-ba8d1e350fd4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-04 10:14:00","extension":"png","order_by":12,"title":"Figure 12","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":2345351,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eCorrelation of Elevation, Slope, Aspect, and Distance from Rivers of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage12.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8830445/v1/5deac58c9b0fcf846f011c25.png"},{"id":106403751,"identity":"36c080c1-ace4-43c7-9bb1-b170e2803254","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-08 09:14:54","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":37347537,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8830445/v1/438fab2d-6768-4e73-bcb4-e09ef501ddc8.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Spatiotemporal Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Neolithic Ancient Sites in Henan Province Based on GIS","fulltext":[{"header":"Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eAncient sites, as spatiotemporal carriers bearing information about prehistoric human activities, record the process by which early humans adapted to natural and environmental changes \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Interpreting the environmental and survival strategy information embedded in these sites helps reveal the internal mechanism of human-environment interaction in a specific historical stage, and deepens our understanding of the dynamic relationship between human social development and natural environment \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. These remains not only serve as tangible evidence for reconstructing early life scenarios, but also provide crucial materials for understanding the continuous process of human adaptation to the environment, offering inspirational insights for addressing contemporary survival challenges \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Since the Holocene, prehistoric human activities have gradually intensified, with the Neolithic Age (approximately 10,000\u0026ndash;4,000 years ago) witnessing particularly prosperous site and cultural development \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Against the backdrop of China's emphasis on cultural development and its ongoing exploration of the origins of Chinese civilization, it is particularly crucial to strengthen research on the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of Neolithic ancient sites.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSince the 1930s, scholars have conducted extensive research on ancient sites from multiple perspectives. In terms of research perspectives, it has involved various disciplines such as archaeology \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR6 CR7\" citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, archaeobotany \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR10 CR11 CR12 CR13 CR14\" citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e15\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, stratigraphy \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e15\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, and macro-geography \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e16\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, and has focused on abnormal climate events \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR16 CR17\" citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e15\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e18\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e as well as micro-environmental factors such as elevation, slope, aspect, vegetation, climate, and water sources \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR2 CR3\" citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR20 CR21 CR22 CR23 CR24 CR25\" citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e19\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e26\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. In terms of research contents, there are regional explorations covering the entirety of China \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, northern regions \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e27\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e28\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, the Yellow River Basin \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e18\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, the Yangtze River Basin, and the Central Plains region \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR13 CR14\" citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e15\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR30 CR31\" citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e29\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e32\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, with relatively concentrated research on provinces such as Shaanxi \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e25\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, Henan \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR6\" citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e19\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e33\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, and Shanxi \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e23\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e in the Central Plains and the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Additionally, investigations cover topics such as subsistence patterns \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR31\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e31\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e33\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, social changes, agricultural economy \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, vegetation evolution, wild plant utilization \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, millet-rice mixed farming \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, and domestic pig domestication \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e34\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, while also focusing on the evolution of cultural patterns, the origins of civilization \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e29\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, as well as the spatiotemporal distribution of sites, influencing factors, and human-environment relationships \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR2 CR3\" citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e16\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR20 CR21 CR22 CR23 CR24 CR25\" citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e19\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e26\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. In terms of temporal scale, the research spans various stages, including the Neolithic Age, the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, the mid-Holocene, and even historical periods. In terms of research methods, the research has gradually shifted from qualitative descriptions to quantitative analyses along with technological advancements and data enrichment, with GIS technology being widely applied \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR2 CR3\" citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR20 CR21 CR22 CR23 CR24 CR25\" citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e19\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e26\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Through spatial analysis tools such as kernel density, aggregation, and directionality, the research can deepen the understanding of complex human-nature interactions on a broader landscape scale.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHenan Province, situated in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and in the heart of the Central Plains, is one of the important birthplaces of Chinese civilization \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. The cultural region of the Central Plains in a broad sense encompasses most of Henan, central and southern Hebei, southern Shanxi, eastern Guanzhong, and the upper reaches of the Han River, and can be divided into the \"Central Plains hinterland\" centered around the Mount Song area and the \"Shaanxi-Shanxi-Henan border region\" \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e30\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. This region is not only the geographical center of ancient China, but also the core area where civilization evolved from diversity to unity, maintaining a continuous and complete cultural sequence from the Neolithic Age to the Erlitou Culture \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e19\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Henan Province, benefiting from its geographical advantage as a transition zone between the east and west and a confluence point of the north and south, as well as its suitable agricultural conditions, nurtured the prosperous Neolithic Culture and serves as a key region for exploring the origins of civilization. Since the first Neolithic archaeological excavation (the discovery of the Yangshao Culture) in 1921, this region has accumulated a wealth of research results. However, the existing work has largely focused on specific sites \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR11\" citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR33\" citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e32\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e34\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, single cultures (such as the Yangshao and the Peiligang Cultures) \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e35\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e36\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, or localized geographical units (such as the Luoyang Basin and the Yiluo River Basin) \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e15\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e37\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, lacking a systematic spatiotemporal analysis that incorporates factors such as natural environment and subsistence economy. Therefore, this research compiles data on Neolithic sites in Henan Province and employs GIS spatial analysis methods, including kernel density estimation, nearest neighbor index, standard deviational ellipse, multi-value extraction to point, buffer zone, and spatial connectivity, to systematically reveal the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and influencing factors of these sites. The findings are corroborated from multiple perspectives by integrating existing research results, with a view to providing insights for understanding human development patterns and facilitating site protection and utilization. However, this research concludes by highlighting its limitations.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Research Region, Data Sources, and Research Methods","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e1.1 Overview of the research region\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eHenan Province, sloping downward from west to east, is situated at the transitional zone between the second and third topographic steps in China. It is surrounded by mountains on its three sides, including the Taihang Mountains to the north, the Xiao, Xiong'er, Funiu, and Waifang Mountains to the west, and the Tongbai and Dabie Mountains to the south, while with Mount Song standing tall in the central-western region (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e). The Qinling-Huaihe line runs across the Province, with the area north of it falling into the warm-temperate semi-humid zone and the area south of it into the subtropical humid zone. The annual average temperature ranges from 12\u0026deg;C to 16\u0026deg;C, and the precipitation ranges from 500mm to 1200 mm, with cold winters, hot summers, and distinct seasons. The major rivers here include the Yellow River, Yiluo River, Shaying River, Huai River, and Tangbai River, among others. Considering geographical environment and archaeological cultural differences, Henan Province can be divided into the following four regions, i.e., the northern Henan region (the north and east of the Yellow River, including Anyang, Puyang, etc.) falls into the warm-temperate semi-humid monsoon climate, with deciduous broad-leaved forests as the vegetation, and its terrain includes the Taihang mountainous hilly areas and the eastern alluvial plains, with an annual average temperature of 13\u0026ndash;14\u0026deg;C and the precipitation of 500-700mm; the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region (the central and western Henan, including Luoyang, Zhengzhou, etc.) is also a warm-temperate semi-humid deciduous broad-leaved forest region, with a comparable area in the Yellow River and Huai River Basins. Its topography includes mountainous hilly areas in the central and western regions, Mount Song hilly areas, the Luoyang Basin, and the eastern plain, with an annual average temperature of 12\u0026ndash;13\u0026deg;C in the western part and 14\u0026ndash;15\u0026deg;C in the central and eastern parts, and the precipitation of 500-800mm; the southwestern Henan region (including Nanyang, Xinyang, etc.) falls into the subtropical humid monsoon climate, with evergreen broad-leaved forests as the vegetation, and its terrain is mainly composed of the Nanyang Basin and the Tongbai-Dabie mountainous hilly areas, with an annual average temperature of 15\u0026ndash;16\u0026deg;C and the precipitation of 800-1200mm; and the eastern Henan region (including Kaifeng, Shangqiu, etc.) falls into a warm-temperate semi-humid plain that is entirely within the Huai River Basin, with its climate characteristics similar to those in the eastern part of the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region. Given that ancient human activities and settlements were heavily constrained by natural conditions, the following analysis of the distribution patterns of Neolithic sites in Henan Province will be conducted on the basis of these four regions to enhance the rationality of this research.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e1.2 Data sources\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eAccording to the \u003cem\u003eLaw of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics\u003c/em\u003e, immovable cultural relics are classified into national, provincial, municipal, or county-level key cultural relic protection sites based on their historical, artistic, and scientific value. Among them, national and provincial cultural relic protection sites exert high authority and profound historical and cultural value. Therefore, this research primarily focuses on ancient site remains listed in these two levels of protection catalogs \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. The data on ancient sites are sourced from the lists of the first to eighth batches of cultural relic protection sites in Henan Province published by the People's Government of Henan Province (\u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.henan.gov.cn/\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.henan.gov.cn/\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e) and the National Cultural Heritage Administration (\u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttp://www.ncha.gov.cn/index.html\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"http://www.ncha.gov.cn/index.html\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e), as well as the list of national key cultural relic protection sites. The latitude and longitude information of the sites is obtained through map capture and organized into a table. It should be emphasized that the six types of cultural sites mentioned in this paper all fall into the Neolithic remains within Henan Province. The elevation data are obtained from the 30m resolution DEM data as provided by the Geospatial Data Cloud (\u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.gscloud.cn/\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.gscloud.cn/\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e). The base map of the administrative divisions of Henan Province is sourced from Map World (\u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.tianditu.gov.cn/\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.tianditu.gov.cn/\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e) and simplified with Mapshaper (\u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://mapshaper.org/\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://mapshaper.org/\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e). Although the geographical environment of historical periods is not entirely the same as that of the present, the current topography has evolved from the historical basis and the overall framework has not undergone fundamental changes. Therefore, this research takes modern geographical data for analysis. And the river system data are sourced from OpenStreetMap (\u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://openstreetmap/\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://openstreetmap/\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e1.3 Research methods\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis research adopts ArcGIS Pro software for data management, spatial analysis, and map production, as this platform combines data processing capabilities with spatial visualization functions. The ancient sites are regarded as spatial point elements to analyze their distribution characteristics across different cultural periods. First, data preprocessing is conducted by importing the administrative boundaries of Henan Province, site data, DEM elevation data, and river system data into ArcGIS Pro, and then uniformly converting them to the WGS-1984-UTM-ZONE-49N projected coordinate system. Subsequently, tools such as kernel density estimation, average nearest neighbor index, and standard deviational ellipse are employed to generate density distribution maps, aggregation indices, and directional ellipses of the sites in each period, respectively. Elevation, slope, and aspect information are extracted based on the DEM data and overlaid with the site points for analysis. Buffer zone analysis and spatial connectivity are adopted to count the distribution of sites around rivers. The specific analysis methods are as follows:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e1.3.1 Kernel density estimation\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis method is used to depict the spatial distribution density of site points. A higher kernel density value indicates a denser concentration of sites, while a lower value suggests a more dispersed distribution. The calculation formula is as follows:\u003cdiv id=\"Equ1\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equ1\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\:f\\left(x\\right)=\\frac{1}{N{h}^{d}}\\sum\\:_{i=1}^{N}k\\left(\\frac{x-{x}_{i}}{h}\\right)$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"EquationNumber\"\u003e1\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhere \u003cem\u003ef(x)\u003c/em\u003e represents the density estimate at Point \u003cem\u003ex\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eN\u003c/em\u003e represents the number of sites, \u003cem\u003eh\u003c/em\u003e represents the search radius, \u003cem\u003ed\u003c/em\u003e represents the data dimension, and \u003cem\u003ex - x\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003e\u003cem\u003ei\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sub\u003e represents the distance from the estimation point to the sample point (i.e., Ancient Site Point \u003cem\u003ex\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003e\u003cem\u003ei\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sub\u003e) \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR24 CR25\" citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e23\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e26\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec7\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e1.3.2 Average nearest neighbor analysis\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis method is used to determine the overall distribution pattern of sites, with the nearest neighbor index \u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;1 indicating an aggregated distribution, \u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1 indicating a random distribution, and \u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;1 indicating a uniform distribution. The calculation formula is:\u003cdiv id=\"Equ2\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equ2\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\:R=\\frac{{\\stackrel{-}{D}}_{o}}{{\\stackrel{-}{D}}_{E}}$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"EquationNumber\"\u003e2\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Equ3\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equ3\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\:{\\stackrel{-}{D}}_{o}\\frac{\\sum\\:_{i=1}^{n}{d}_{i}}{n}$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"EquationNumber\"\u003e3\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Equ4\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equ4\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\:{\\stackrel{-}{D}}_{E}=\\frac{0.5}{\\sqrt{n/A}}$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"EquationNumber\"\u003e4\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhere \u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e represents the nearest neighbor index, \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{\\stackrel{-}{D}}_{o}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e represents the observed average nearest neighbor distance, \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{\\stackrel{-}{D}}_{E}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e represents the expected average distance, \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{d}_{i}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e represents the distance from Point \u003cem\u003ei\u003c/em\u003e to its nearest neighboring point, \u003cem\u003eA\u003c/em\u003e represents the area of the research region, and \u003cem\u003en\u003c/em\u003e represents the total number of sites. Besides the \u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e value, this tool also calculates the \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e value representing probability and the \u003cem\u003eZ\u003c/em\u003e value representing standard deviation: If \u003cem\u003eP\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01 and |\u003cem\u003eZ\u003c/em\u003e| \u0026gt; 2.58, the results are significant at the 99% confidence level \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e16\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR24 CR25\" citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e23\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e26\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e1.3.3 Standard deviational ellipse\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis method is used to identify the dominant direction and distribution range of sites. The major axis of the ellipse represents the primary direction, while the minor axis indicates the distribution range, and the area of the ellipse reflects the degree of spatial concentration, with a greater flattening indicating a more pronounced directionality. The calculation formula is:\u003cdiv id=\"Equ5\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equ5\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\:{E}_{x}=\\sqrt{\\frac{\\sum\\:_{i=1}^{n}({x}_{i}-\\stackrel{-}{X})}{n}},\\:{E}_{y}=\\sqrt{\\frac{\\sum\\:_{i=1}^{n}({y}_{i}-\\stackrel{-}{Y})}{n}}$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"EquationNumber\"\u003e5\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Equ6\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equ6\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\:\\text{tan}\\frac{{(\\sum\\:_{i=1}^{n}{{a}_{i}}^{2}-\\sum\\:_{i=1}^{n}{{b}_{i}}^{2})}^{2}+\\sqrt{{(\\sum\\:_{i=1}^{n}{{a}_{i}}^{2}-\\sum\\:_{i=1}^{n}{{b}_{i}}^{2})}^{2}+4{\\left(\\sum\\:_{i=1}^{n}{a}_{i}{b}_{i}\\right)}^{2}}}{2\\sum\\:_{i-1}^{n}{a}_{i}{b}_{i}}$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"EquationNumber\"\u003e6\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhere \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{E}_{x}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e and \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{E}_{y}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e represent the major and minor axes of the standard deviational ellipse, (\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{x}_{i}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{y}_{i}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e) represent the coordinates of the site, (\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:\\stackrel{-}{X}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:\\stackrel{-}{Y}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e) represent the coordinates of the mean center, \u003cem\u003en\u003c/em\u003e represents the number of sites, \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:\\theta\\:\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e represents the rotation angle, and \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{a}_{i}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{b}_{i}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e represent the distances from Site \u003cem\u003ei\u003c/em\u003e to the mean center along the major and minor axes \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR24 CR25\" citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e23\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e26\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Spatiotemporal Distribution Characteristics of Neolithic Ancient Sites in Henan Province","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec10\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.1 Spatiotemporal evolution of Neolithic ancient sites\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Neolithic Cultures in Henan Province mainly include the early Lijiagou site, the mid-term Peiligang Culture, the mid-to-late Yangshao Culture, the late-to-end Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures, and the end-stage Longshan Culture. Among them, early remains are rarely found. Currently, only the Lijiagou site reflects a subsistence pattern dominated by hunting and supplemented by plant utilization \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR31\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e31\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e36\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Therefore, this research does not focus on its analysis. After sorting, a total of 362 sites are identified as falling into the Peiligang, Yangshao, Longshan, Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures. Since most sites have multiple cultural layer accumulations, the number of sites for each culture is 36, 191, 263, 13, 36, and 10, respectively (see Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e). From the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture and then to the Longshan Culture, the number of sites increases significantly, forming the mainstream cultural sequence in the region. In contrast, the number of sites of the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures is relatively small, falling into non-mainstream types, and shows a decreasing trend from the Qujialing period to the Shijiahe period (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNumber of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"5\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCultural Types\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNumber of Sites\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAge(ka BP) [5\u0026ndash;7],[37\u0026ndash;39]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTotal Number of Sites\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNumber of State-protected Sites\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNumber of Provincially-protected Sites\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePeiligang Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e36\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.0\u0026ndash;7.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYangshao Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e191\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e40\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e151\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.0\u0026ndash;5.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLongshan Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e263\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e46\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e217\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.6-4.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDawenkou Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.3\u0026ndash;4.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQujialing Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e36\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e29\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.3\u0026ndash;4.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eShijiahe Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.5\u0026ndash;4.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"5\"\u003eNote: ka BP refers to ... thousand years before present (January 1, 1950), and the cultural types are those from the Neolithic Age in Henan Province.\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.2 Spatiotemporal distribution of Neolithic ancient sites\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1) Cultural sites of the mid-Neolithic period\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBased on the ArcGIS Pro kernel density tool and site data, a kernel density distribution map of the Peiligang Culture is generated (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e-a). The Culture is centered around Mount Song in central Henan and is mainly distributed in the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region, including Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Ruzhou, and Luohe, with sparse distribution in the western mountainous areas. Unlike Paleolithic sites, which were mostly concentrated in the western mountainous regions, the Peiligang Culture shows a trend of spreading towards the eastern plains, which may be related to the warming climate after the last glacial period, the eastward migration of humans along rivers, and the development of agriculture \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. During this period, the subsistence pattern was mainly foraging, fishing and hunting, supplemented by the initial cultivation of crops such as millet, broomcorn millet, and rice \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e34\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Consequently, sites were found in diverse habitats including both mountainous and plain areas.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(2) Cultural sites of the mid-to-late Neolithic period\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe core area of the Yangshao Culture shifts westward to the regions of Luoyang, Mount Song, and Sanmenxia (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e-b). Its distribution range expands significantly compared to that of the Peiligang Culture, covering the entire Henan Province, with a more diverse range of topographical types. This stage is in the Holocene Megathermal with a warmer climate than today, which is conducive to the development of millet farming, livestock rearing, and handicrafts \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e17\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Both the core areas of the Peiligang and Yangshao Cultures were located in the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region, where livestock rearing was relatively advanced. By the heyday of the Yangshao Culture, rice farming had become widespread south of the Yellow River in Henan, with new crop varieties such as wheat and sorghum being introduced, forming a subsistence pattern dominated by farming and rearing, as supplemented by foraging, fishing and hunting \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e33\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Additionally, influenced by the westward expansion of the Dawenkou Culture from the east during the late Yangshao period, the Dahecun type emerged. Meanwhile, a cooling event around 5.4ka BP might have also contributed to its further development \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR18 CR19\" citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e17\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Sites to the east of Zhengzhou and Kaifeng remained relatively sparse, possibly due to frequent flooding in warm and humid climates to make it unfavorable for millet farming. Although the number of sites in the eastern plains increased compared to the previous period, it was still lower than that in the regions more suitable for millet farming, such as the western Henan hilly areas, the piedmont alluvial plains, and the Luoyang Basin.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(3) Cultural sites of the late Neolithic period\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDuring the late Neolithic period, foreign cultures such as the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures had limited distributions within Henan (see Figs.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e-d, e, f). The Dawenkou Culture was primarily distributed in the Shangqiu and Zhoukou regions of the Huaihai Plain in the eastern Henan. Due to geographical barriers, a strong dependence on water sources, and the lack of advantages for millet farming under warm and humid climatic conditions, its spread was restricted, and it gradually integrated into the early Longshan Culture \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. The Qujialing Culture emerged slightly later, as concentrated in the Nanyang Basin and the lower reaches of the Dan River, with a small presence in the Huai River Basin. Obstructed by the Sha River and restricted by its rice-based subsistence pattern, it did not expand northward but had a greater impact on the Huai River Basin than on the Heluo region during the same period \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e33\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. The Shijiahe Culture, which succeeded the Qujialing Culture, was similarly concentrated in the Nanyang Basin, but with a high degree of spatial overlap between the two. However, the number of sites during the Shijiahe period decreased significantly.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(4) Cultural sites of the final Neolithic period\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe core area of the Longshan Culture shifted eastward, indicating a trend of \"sites descending to lower elevations\" and forming a \"multi-core\" structure centered on the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region and the eastern Henan plain (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e-c). The site density increased significantly in the Huanghuai Plain in the eastern Henan and approximately doubled in the northern Henan, while the number of sites in the Luoyang Basin and Sanmenxia Gorge in the western Henan remained roughly comparable to that during the Yangshao period. This shift might be related to the transition to a cold and dry climate with reduced precipitation in the late Holocene, prompting populations to migrate to lower-elevation plains. Additionally, the retreat of lakes and marshes in the Huai River Basin made it more suitable for millet farming \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Furthermore, population growth, increased productivity, further developed millet farming, and interactions with surrounding cultures collectively contributed to the widespread distribution of sites across almost the entire Henan. New crop varieties, such as soybeans, were introduced \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, and livestock included not only local pigs but also a small number of goats and cattle from the Western Asia, forming a diversified agricultural and livestock production system \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e32\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e33\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e that supported population growth. However, sites remained relatively sparse in the east of Zhengzhou and Kaifeng due to a weak cultural foundation and fewer rivers, while the decrease in the number of sites in the Nanyang Basin might also be related to the cold and dry climate and the reduced precipitation.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(5) Overall distribution of Neolithic cultural sites\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThroughout the Neolithic Age, the core areas of site distribution in Henan were the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e-g), followed by the eastern Henan plain and then the Nanyang Basin in the southwestern Henan. The Zhengzhou-Luoyang region maintained relatively high levels of subsistence development, agricultural cultivation, and livestock rearing over an extended period \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e33\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, which was closely related to its geographical location in the Yellow River Basin.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.3 Spatial aggregation characteristics of Neolithic ancient sites\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eBased on the average nearest neighbor analysis conducted with ArcGIS Pro, the aggregation index of various cultural sites from the Neolithic Age in Henan Province was obtained (see Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e). The nearest neighbor indices of the Peiligang, Yangshao, and Longshan Cultures were all less than 1, indicating an overall aggregated spatial distribution. Among them, the Yangshao and Longshan Cultures had \u003cem\u003eP\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01 and |\u003cem\u003eZ\u003c/em\u003e| \u0026gt; 2.58, demonstrating a confidence level of over 99% for the results. The \u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e index of the Yangshao Culture (0.702127) decreased by approximately 0.20 compared to that of the Peiligang Culture (0.902635), indicating a significant increase in aggregation; and the \u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e index of the Longshan Culture increased by approximately 0.04 compared to that of the Yangshao Culture, indicating a slight decrease in aggregation, which might be related to its expanded distribution range and differentiated site density across regions, such as increased density in the southeastern and northern Henan and relatively decreased density in the Zhengzhou-Luoyang and southwestern Henan regions, forming a multi-center aggregation pattern. The nearest neighbor indices of the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures were all greater than 1, indicating that the sites of these three foreign cultures tend to be evenly distributed.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe aforementioned distribution trends were related to social development and subsistence patterns in various periods. During the Peiligang Culture period, the population was relatively small, and the scale of sites mostly ranged from several thousand to tens of thousands of square meters, with the largest being the Tanghu site (approximately 300,000 square meters), reflecting a relatively scattered settlement pattern of the population \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. By the Yangshao Culture period, the population grew, and the tendency to live in concentrated settlements intensified. The Longshan Culture existed during the Chalcolithic period, when agriculture and livestock rearing became the primary economic sectors. With improved productivity, accumulated social wealth, and emerged social stratification (as evidenced by increased meat consumption by the deceased in large tombs), the nuclear family became the basic unit of social production \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e40\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Meanwhile, the complexification of social structure, the spread of foreign cultures, and the climate-induced eastward population migration due to cold and dry conditions collectively influenced the expansion and localized aggregation of its spatial distribution. As the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures were foreign cultures, they were characterized by a small number of sites, limited distribution ranges, and relatively scattered locations for some of them, thus exhibiting a uniform distribution pattern.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSpatial Aggregation Characteristics of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"6\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCultural Types\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNumber of Sites\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNearest Neighbor Indices (\u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDistribution Type\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eZ\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eP\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePeiligang Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e36\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.902635\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eClumped\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.117592\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.263741\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYangshao Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e191\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.702127\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eClumped\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-7.875507\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.000000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLongshan Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e263\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.739722\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eClumped\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-8.075079\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.000000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDawenkou Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.239256\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRandom\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDistribution\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.650309\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.098880\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQujialing Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e36\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.028895\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRandom\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDistribution\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.331674\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.740136\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eShijiahe Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.454706\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRandom\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDistribution\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.750813\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.005945\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.4 Spatial orientation characteristics of Neolithic ancient sites\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThrough standard deviational ellipse analysis of various cultural sites, their spatial distribution directions and ranges were obtained (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e and Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e). From the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture, both the major and minor axes of the ellipses increased, the flattening decreased, the orientation shifted from southeast-northwest to northeast-southwest, the directionality weakened, and the distribution range expanded significantly (see Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e and Figs.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e-a, b, g). This change is closely related to the outward expansion of the Yangshao Culture and the increase in the number of sites, with particularly notable growth in the number of sites in the eastern Henan plain. In the Longshan Culture stage, both the major and minor axes continued to increase, the flattening rose again, the orientation reverted to southeast-northwest, the directionality slightly strengthened, and the distribution range further expanded (see Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e and Figs.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e-b, c, g), which aligns with the spatial expansion trend of a significant increase in Longshan Culture sites in the eastern Henan plain and a doubling in number in the northern Henan region. Additionally, the centroid of the ellipse shifted westward by approximately 27'45.31\" (about 43.74km) and northward by approximately 3'03.44\" (about 5.6km) from the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture; and in the Longshan Culture, it shifted eastward by approximately 42'55.05\" (about 67.07km) and southward by approximately 3'16.70\" (about 5.1km) (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e-g). This movement trajectory is consistent with the central changes reflected in kernel density and aggregation analysis, further confirming the spatial evolution patterns of these three cultures.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe ellipses for both the Qujialing Culture and the Shijiahe Culture exhibited a southeast-northwest orientation, with the latter showing an increase in the major axis, a decrease in the minor axis, a significant rise in flattening, enhanced directionality, and a trend towards a more elongated distribution range, reflecting a distinct spatial continuity between the two (see Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e and Figs.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e-e, f, g). This result is also related to the reduction in the number of Shijiahe Culture sites and the contraction of their distribution ranges. During this period, the centroid shifted slightly northwestward (westward by approximately 10'01.73\" (about 15.33km) and northward by approximately 04'17.54\" (about 1.1km)), further supporting the judgment of cultural continuity. The ellipse for the Dawenkou Culture exhibited a northeast-southwest orientation with strong directionality, and its centroid position was relatively independent (see Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e and Figs.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e-d, g), indicating that although this Culture intersected with local cultures in Henan, there was no spatial inheritance in terms of orientation. This aligns with its development as a foreign culture with a limited distribution range along rivers and its eventual integration into the early Longshan Culture.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab3\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDistribution Direction of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"8\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCultural Types\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMajor Axis(km)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMinor Axis(km)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFlattening\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRotation Angle(\u0026deg;)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCentroid\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSpatial Direction\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLongitude\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLatitude\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePeiligang Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e130.201\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e99.375\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.24\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e155.112\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e113\u0026deg;34\u0026prime;42.56\u0026Prime;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e34\u0026deg;03\u0026prime;58.68\u0026Prime;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoutheast-northwest\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYangshao Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e145.554\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e142.518\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.02\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e54.800\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e113\u0026deg;06\u0026prime;57.25\u0026Prime;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e34\u0026deg;07\u0026prime;02.12\u0026Prime;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNortheast-southwest\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLongshan Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e165.236\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e143.652\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.13\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e150.436\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e113\u0026deg;49\u0026prime;52.30\u0026Prime;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e34\u0026deg;03\u0026prime;45.42\u0026Prime;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoutheast-northwest\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDawenkou Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e136.549\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e73.785\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.46\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e69.090\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e114\u0026deg;31\u0026prime;06.39\u0026Prime;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e33\u0026deg;42\u0026prime;26.45\u0026Prime;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNortheast-southwest\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQujialing Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e154.622\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e79.332\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.49\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e103.326\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e113\u0026deg;05\u0026prime;40.03\u0026Prime;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e32\u0026deg;58\u0026prime;22.19\u0026Prime;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoutheast-northwest\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eShijiahe Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e213.499\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e58.882\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.72\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e106.911\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e112\u0026deg;55\u0026prime;38.30\u0026Prime;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e33\u0026deg;02\u0026prime;39.73\u0026Prime;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoutheast-northwest\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Influencing Factors of Spatiotemporal Distribution Characteristics during the Neolithic Age","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe survival and activities of ancient humans were significantly constrained by natural conditions such as terrain and rivers. The distribution areas of sites typically reflect the suitable environments for obtaining survival resources at that time \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e23\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Henan Province boasts diverse landform types. Apart from natural factors, cultural interactions and the evolution of subsistence patterns also exert significant influences on the formation and development of ancient society. To this end, this research analyzes the influence of natural elements such as elevation, slope, aspect, and distance from rivers, as combined with human factors, on the spatial distribution of sites.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec15\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.1 Elevation\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eHenan Province is high in the west and low in the east, encompassing various landforms such as mountains, plains, hills, and basins. To analyze the elevation characteristics of site distribution, the elevation is divided into five intervals, i.e., \u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;50m, 50-200m, 200-500m, 500-1000m, and \u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;1000m \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e; and the site points are then superimposed with the elevation data for analysis (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e, Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e, and Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e). Sites of the Peiligang Culture are mainly distributed within the 50-500m range, with the highest proportion in the 50-100m interval, which is related to the fact that early agriculture was mainly carried out in plains, although foraging, fishing and hunting still dominated at this stage. Sites of the Yangshao Culture are mainly distributed within a range similar to those of the Peiligang stage, but the overall elevation range has expanded, with sites appearing above 1000m in elevation. The proportion in the \u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;100m interval has decreased, while the proportions in the intervals above 100m all have increased, reflecting advancements in agricultural development and enhanced human adaptability. Sites of the Longshan Culture are concentrated in the Zhengzhou-Luoyang and southeastern Henan plains at elevations below 200m. Compared with the Yangshao Culture, the proportion in the \u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;100m interval has increased, while the proportions in the intervals above 100m have decreased, indicating that humans were more inclined to choose flat low-lying areas with superior water and soil conditions for living and production. Sites of the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures all fall into foreign cultures, and are distributed at relatively lower elevations and within concentrated ranges, reflecting a strong dependence on water sources and terrain. Among them, the Qujialing and Shijiahe Cultures, primarily engaged in rice cultivation, had particularly significant demands for water sources \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. According to the elevation box plot of the six types of cultural sites (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e), the medians from high to low are in the order of Yangshao, Qujialing, Shijiahe, Peiligang, Longshan, and Dawenkou Culture. The medians are all positioned towards the lower part of the box, and the upper dotted lines are significantly longer than the lower dotted lines, indicating the presence of some site points at relatively high elevations. The Yangshao and Longshan Cultures, as well as the Qujialing and Shijiahe Cultures, overlap in terms of high-elevation site points, reflecting a certain degree of continuity. The main body of the box is concentrated within the 50-200m interval, further confirming the primary trend in elevation distribution for each culture.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab4\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 4\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eProportion of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types at Different Elevations\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"7\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCultural Types\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"6\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eProportion of Ancient Sites\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026le;\u0026thinsp;50m\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e50-100m\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e100-200m\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e200-500m\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e500-1000m\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026ge;\u0026thinsp;1000m\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePeiligang Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.89%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e38.89%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.22%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.22%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.78%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYangshao Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.99%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e28.80%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e30.89%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.51%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.28%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.52%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLongshan Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26.62%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e37.64%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.19%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.27%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.90%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.38%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDawenkou Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e69.23%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.08%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.69%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQujialing Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.67%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e30.56%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e38.89%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.11%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.78%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eShijiahe Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e30.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e30.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec16\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.2 Slope\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eWith reference to the slope classification system released by the Commission on Geomorphological Survey and Mapping of the International Geographical Union, and in combination with the actual terrain in Henan Province, slopes are divided into five categories, i.e., flat slopes (0\u0026ndash;2\u0026deg;), gentle slopes (2\u0026ndash;5\u0026deg;), moderate slopes (5\u0026ndash;15\u0026deg;), relatively steep slopes (15\u0026ndash;25\u0026deg;), and steep slopes (25\u0026ndash;90\u0026deg;). Among them, flat and gentle slopes are more suitable for human habitation and activities \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR2\" citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Based on this classification, a slope distribution map of Henan Province was generated with DEM data (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e), and the slope distributions of sites for each culture were statistically analyzed (see Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e and Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig7\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e). Sites of the Peiligang and Yangshao Culture are predominantly concentrated in areas with slopes below 5\u0026deg;, accounting for about 80%. Sites on moderate slopes account for about 16%, and there are very few sites on slopes above 15\u0026deg;. During the Yangshao Culture, the proportion of sites on flat slopes increased slightly, while the proportion on steep slopes decreased. This is related to the initial development and subsequent maturation of agriculture, which leads to a greater preference for flat terrain. By the Longshan Culture period, the proportions of flat-slope and gentle-slope sites further increased, while the proportion of sites on slopes steeper than gentle slopes decreased, reflecting the higher demand for flat land as driven by the agricultural development (such as the cultivation of millet and broomcorn millet). All sites of the Dawenkou Culture in Henan Province are located on flat and gentle slopes, which aligns with their concentrated distribution in the eastern Henan plain and their frequent occurrence along river lowlands. Sites of the Qujialing Culture are mainly distributed on flat and gentle slopes, with relatively few ones on moderate and relatively steep slopes. By the Shijiahe Culture period, the proportion of sites on flat slopes decreases significantly, while the proportion on gentle slopes increases significantly. This may be related to the decrease in the number of sites, their more dispersed distribution, and the adaptability of rice cultivation to slightly gentle slopes. From the slope box plot of the six types of cultural sites (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig7\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e), the median slopes all fall within the range of 2-4.5\u0026deg;. The medians of the Yangshao and Longshan Cultures, as well as the Qujialing and Shijiahe Cultures are all positioned towards the lower part of the box, and the upper dotted lines are significantly longer than the lower dotted lines, indicating the presence of some site points at relatively high slopes. The Yangshao and Longshan Cultures, as well as the Qujialing and Shijiahe Cultures, overlap in terms of high-slope site points, indicating a certain degree of distribution continuity. The main body of the box is concentrated within the range of 1\u0026ndash;5\u0026deg;; and from the Yangshao Culture to the Longshan Culture, the overall slopes of the sites show a decreasing trend, further confirming the previous analysis.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab5\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 5\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eProportion of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types at Different Slopes\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"7\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCultural Types\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"5\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eProportion of Ancient Sites\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"1\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u0026ndash;2\u0026deg;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u0026ndash;5\u0026deg;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5\u0026ndash;15\u0026deg;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15\u0026ndash;25\u0026deg;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25\u0026ndash;90\u0026deg;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePeiligang Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e38.89%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e38.89%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.67%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.78%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.78%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYangshao Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e40.31%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e38.22%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.23%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.14%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.09%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLongshan Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e46.77%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e40.30%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.41%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.76%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.76%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDawenkou Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e38.46%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e61.54%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQujialing Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e36.11%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e47.22%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.89%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.78%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eShijiahe Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e60.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec17\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.3 Aspect\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eAspect is a key topographic factor that affects sunlight exposure. In the Northern Hemisphere, south-facing slopes receive the most abundant sunlight. Based on the actual conditions in Henan Province, this research categorizes aspects into 9 categories \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e23\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. The aspect information for each cultural site was extracted with ArcGIS Pro (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig8\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e) and statistically analyzed (see Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e and Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig9\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e). Sites of the Peiligang Culture are mainly distributed on sun-facing or relatively sun-facing slopes such as southeast, west, south, and east. By the Yangshao Culture period, the proportion of sites in the aforementioned four aspects decreases, while the proportions in the remaining six aspects generally increases. Among them, the northwest, southwest, and northeast aspects have the highest proportions, followed by the four common aspects during the Peiligang period. This indicates an expansion in the range of aspect for site distribution and a slight weakening in sun-facing orientation, which may be related to the rise in temperature during the Holocene Megathermal. Sites of the Longshan Culture are most prevalent on northwest-facing slopes, followed by south, east, and southwest-facing slopes, showing an enhanced sun-facing orientation compared to the Yangshao Culture. Except for flat and north-facing slopes, the differences in proportions among various aspects are relatively small, which may be related to the climate's becoming drier and cooler, the demand of dry-farming agriculture for local microclimates, and the further expansion of agricultural range. Sites of the Dawenkou Culture are concentrated on southwest and northwest-facing slopes, followed by south-facing slopes, demonstrating a strong sun-facing orientation, which may correspond to the climatic transition from warm and humid conditions during the Yangshao Culture to dry and cool conditions during the early Longshan Culture. Sites of the Qujialing Culture are predominantly oriented toward northwest, southwest, west, and northeast, reflecting a warm and humid climatic background; while sites of the Shijiahe Culture are relatively more common on west and north-facing slopes, which may be related to a decrease in precipitation, although the trend is not very obvious due to the small number of sites. From the aspect box plot of the six types of cultural sites (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig9\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e), the median aspect of the Peiligang to Yangshao Culture and then to the Longshan Culture first increases and then decreases, indicating that the sun-facing orientation first weakens and then strengthens. The median of the Qujialing to Shijiahe Culture also decreases, with an increased sun-facing orientation. The median aspect of the six types is between 180 and 220\u0026deg; (south to southwest), and the main body of the box is concentrated within the 90\u0026ndash;300\u0026deg; range (east, southeast, south, southwest, west, and northwest), indicating an overall strong sun-facing orientation, which aligns with the previous analysis.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab6\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 6\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eProportion of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types at Different Aspects\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"11\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c9\" colnum=\"9\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c10\" colnum=\"10\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c11\" colnum=\"11\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCultural Types\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"10\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eProportion of Ancient Sites\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFlat Ground\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(-1\u0026deg;)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNorth(0~\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.5\u0026deg;)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNortheast(22.5-\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e67.5\u0026deg;)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEast(67.5-\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e112.5\u0026deg;)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoutheast(112.5-\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e157.5\u0026deg;)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSouth(157.5-\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e202.5\u0026deg;)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSouthwest(202.5-\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e247.5\u0026deg;)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eWest(247.5-\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e292.5\u0026deg;)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNorthwest(292.5-\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e337.5\u0026deg;)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNorth(337.5-\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e360\u0026deg;)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePeiligang Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.78%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.56%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.89%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.22%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.67%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.33%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.22%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.33%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYangshao Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.57%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.71%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12.57%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.47%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.99%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.99%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.23%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.52%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.75%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.19%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLongshan Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.28%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.46%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.03%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12.17%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.27%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14.45%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12.55%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.03%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.35%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.42%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDawenkou Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.69%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.69%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.69%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.38%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e30.77%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.69%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.08%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQujialing Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.78%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.67%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.33%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.56%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.33%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.67%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.67%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19.44%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.56%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eShijiahe Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec18\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.4 Distance from rivers\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eBased on the distribution characteristics of river systems in Henan Province, 4 buffer zones are set, i.e., within 1km, 1-3km, 3-10km, and beyond 10km \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR2\" citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. The distribution of sites (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig10\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e) and their proportions (see Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab7\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e and Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig11\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e) are analyzed with the buffer tool in ArcGIS Pro. Although there have been changes in the positions of ancient and modern rivers, the main river basin patterns still hold reference value. Sites of the Peiligang Culture are located within 10km from rivers, with the highest concentration within 1km, followed by distances of 1-3km and 3-10km, indicating a strong river proximity. During the Yangshao Culture period, the proportion of sites within 1km decreased, and sites appeared beyond 10km, indicating a weakening of the river proximity. This may be related to the warm and humid climate and abundant precipitation during the Holocene Megathermal. In the Longshan Culture stage, the proportions of sites within 1km and beyond 10km increased significantly, while the proportions in the 1-3km and 3-10km intervals decreased, reflecting that under a climate trending towards dryness and coldness, the river proximity strengthened in some areas, while the selection of settlement sites also tended more towards areas suitable for agricultural activities, resulting in regional differentiation in the overall river proximity. The Dawenkou Culture within Henan was concentrated in areas 1-10km from rivers, primarily in the middle and lower reaches of the Ying River, indicating an obvious river proximity but a relatively weak diffusion. Sites of the Qujialing Culture are mainly found within 1km from rivers, followed by those in the 1-10km range, with the fewest beyond 10km. Their strong river proximity is closely related to the dependence of rice cultivation on water resources. Compared to the Qujialing Culture, the Shijiahe Culture shows an increase in the proportion of sites within 1km and in the 1-3km range, while the proportion beyond 3km decreases, indicating a further enhanced river proximity, which may be related to a drier and colder climate. From the kernel density estimation plot of distance from rivers (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig11\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e), the kernel density peaks of the six types of cultural sites all appear in the 0.60-0.95km interval. The peak intensities from high to low are in the order of Shijiahe, Longshan, Yangshao, Peiligang, Qujialing, and Dawenkou Culture, and the corresponding peak distances increase successively, indicating that all cultures have a relatively strong river proximity, but their intensities decrease slightly in sequence. Furthermore, the kernel density curves of each culture rise with increasing distance before the peak and decline with increasing distance after the peak. Despite local fluctuations, the overall trend remains consistent, further supporting the aforementioned analytical results.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab7\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 7\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eProportion of Ancient Sites of Different Cultural Types according to Distance from Rivers\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"6\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCultural Types\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"5\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eProportion of Ancient Sites\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;1km\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1-3km\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3-10km\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;10km\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"1\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePeiligang Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e44.44%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e33.33%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.22%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"1\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYangshao Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e37.70%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e38.22%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.56%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.52%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"1\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLongshan Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e45.25%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e34.98%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e17.87%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19.39%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"1\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDawenkou Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e38.46%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e46.15%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.69%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.69%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"1\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQujialing Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e41.67%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e33.33%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.22%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.78%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"1\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eShijiahe Culture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e50.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e40.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"1\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec19\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.5 Correlation of natural factors\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe distribution of sites is comprehensively influenced by multiple natural factors, including elevation, slope, aspect, and distance from rivers, with varying degrees of correlation among these factors (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig12\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e). A strong positive correlation exists between elevation and slope of all six types of cultural sites (with \u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e values being 0.64, 0.41, 0.63, 0.40, 0.61, and 0.88, respectively), indicating that sites at higher elevations tend to have steeper slopes, while those at lower elevations have gentler slopes, showing a coordinated trend of concurrent change. A strong positive correlation is also observed between slope and distance from rivers for the Dawenkou and Shijiahe Cultures (with \u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e values being 0.41 and 0.74, respectively), as well as between elevation and distance from rivers (with \u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e values being 0.79 and 0.77, respectively), reflecting the spatial association that sites of these two cultural types are usually farther from rivers at higher and steeper locations and closer to rivers at lower and gentler locations. Additionally, there is a certain positive correlation between elevation and aspect in the Shijiahe Culture (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.45), indicating a tendency for elevation, slope, and aspect to increase or decrease together during this stage.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec20\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.6 Human factors\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe formation of the Central Plains Culture during the Neolithic Age in Henan was the result of collisions, exchanges, and integrations between local culture and various surrounding primitive cultures \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR36 CR37 CR38\" citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e35\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e39\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. The Peiligang Culture originated locally and laid the foundation for subsequent cultural development; based on this, the Yangshao Culture developed into the dominant culture during its heyday; and subsequently, the Longshan Culture emerged as the new dominant local culture. These three cultures are sequentially connected in time and spatially inherited, all falling into the cultural sequence of the Yellow River Basin. Additionally, Henan was also influenced by foreign cultures, where the Dawenkou Culture (appearing in the middle Yangshao period and ending in the early Longshan period) (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e) represented a western expansion of the Dawenkou Culture from Shandong, primarily distributed in the eastern Henan plain, and eventually merged into the Longshan Culture; the Qujialing Culture (appearing at the end of the Yangshao period and ending in the early Longshan period) originated from the Hubei region in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, mainly influencing the southern Henan; and the Shijiahe Culture (appearing in the early Longshan period and ending in the mid-Longshan period) inherited from the Qujialing Culture and also represented the northward spread of the Yangtze River Basin Culture, with its influence also concentrated in the southern Henan.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe evolution of subsistence patterns has a significant impact on social structure and civilizational development \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e],[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e33\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. In the early Neolithic Age in Henan, foraging, fishing and hunting were the primary activities. By the middle period, livestock rearing and supplementary crop cultivation began to emerge. The use of crops such as millet, broomcorn millet, rice, and hemp, as coupled with stone production tools, promoted the development of clan economies and the formation of small settlements. In the late period, the pattern shifted to a focus on farming and rearing, as supplemented by foraging, fishing, and hunting. The emergence of plow agriculture, an increase in crop varieties, and advancements in production tools led to the manifestation of social division of labor and class differentiation, promoting the rise of medium-sized settlements and painted pottery culture. Towards the end of this period, crop varieties (such as soybeans and wheat) and livestock (such as cattle and sheep) were further diversified, forming a multifaceted agricultural production system. The continued development of mixed plow-hoe agriculture led to increased grain output, driving intensified social class differentiation, the emergence of large settlements, and significant progress in culture, etiquette, and technology.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Summary and Discussion","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec22\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e4.1 Summary\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eBased on published site data and related research, this paper explores the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and influencing factors of different cultural sites during the Neolithic Age in Henan Province by applying the spatial analysis method in ArcGIS Pro. The main conclusions are as follows:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1) Regarding spatiotemporal distribution, the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region serves as the core area for Neolithic cultural sites in Henan, yet its spatial pattern has evolved across different periods. The Peiligang Culture is mainly distributed along the southeastern foothills of Mount Song, while the Yangshao Culture is centered in the Luoyang Basin and shifts slightly westward, both exhibiting a \"single-core\" distribution. In contrast, the Longshan Culture expands northward across the Yellow River to the northern Henan, southeastward along the Ying River-Ru River to the lower reaches of the Huai River, and westward into the Sanmenxia Valley, transforming into a \"multi-core\" diffusion pattern. During the late to final periods, the distribution of foreign cultures is limited, as the Dawenkou Culture is centered around Zhoukou and Shangqiu, while the Qujialing and Shijiahe Cultures are centered in the Nanyang Basin. Regarding spatial aggregation and directional characteristics, the degree of site aggregation gradually increases from the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture and slightly decreases during the Longshan stage. The directional distribution weakens from the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture and then slightly strengthens during the Longshan Culture, with the principal axis orientation shifting from southeast-northwest to northeast-southwest and then reverting to southeast-northwest. The distribution range of these three cultures gradually expands, with the centroid shifting northwestward and then southeastward. The sites of the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures exhibit a uniform distribution pattern, with the Dawenkou Culture indicating strong directionality in a northeast-southwest orientation. The Qujialing Culture to the Shijiahe Culture demonstrate a significant increase in directionality, both oriented southeast-northwest, with the centroid shifting northwestward.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(2) Regarding natural influencing factors, the elevation distribution range of sites from the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture gradually expands as being primarily within areas below 200m, with an overall increase in elevation during the Yangshao stage and a decrease during the Longshan stage. The preference for aspect (sun-facing orientation) weakens initially and then strengthens during the Longshan stage, while the river proximity gradually decreases. The Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures have a relatively narrow elevation range, all concentrated within areas below 200m, with a strong preference for aspect and river proximity, which further intensifies from the Qujialing to the Shijiahe stage. Overall, the six types of cultural sites are predominantly distributed in areas with a slope below 5\u0026deg;, and this trend gradually strengthens, with a significant positive correlation between elevation and slope. Regarding human influencing factors, the formation of the Central Plains Culture during the Neolithic Age in Henan is the result of collision and exchange between local and surrounding cultures, also reflecting the cultural integration between the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin. And the transition in subsistence patterns from foraging, fishing, and hunting to various crop cultivation and livestock rearing significantly impacts social structure and civilizational development.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec23\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e4.2 Discussion\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis research has certain limitations, for example, the data used only cover the sites classified as national and provincial key cultural relic protection sites, excluding municipal and county protection sites and other types of cultural heritage, and additionally, due to the lack of high-resolution paleoenvironmental data, it is challenging to accurately reconstruct the terrain and river systems of historical periods. Therefore, the analysis is solely based on existing site data and contemporary geographic information. Nevertheless, this research supplements the deficiencies in spatial analysis of sites in this region to a considerable extent, and can provide a reference for subsequent research, site protection, and utilization.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003eAcknowledgements\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot applicable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFunding\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis study received financial support from the 2026 Annual Henan Province Educational Strong Province Special Research Project: \u0026ldquo;Research on Adaptive Protection Approaches for the Ruins of Luoyang City from Sui and Tang Dynasties from the Perspective of \u0026lsquo;Anchoring-Layering\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo; (grant number 2026JYQS720, granted to Yingxia Shi).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAvailability of data and materials\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe data on ancient sites are sourced from the lists of the first to eighth batches of cultural relic protection sites in Henan Province published by the People\u0026apos;s Government of Henan Province (https://www.henan.gov.cn/) and the National Cultural Heritage Administration (http://www.ncha.gov.cn/index.html), as well as the list of national key cultural relic protection sites.The elevation data are obtained from the 30m resolution DEM data as provided by the Geospatial Data Cloud (https://www.gscloud.cn/). The base map of the administrative divisions of Henan Province is sourced from Map World (https://www.tianditu.gov.cn/) and simplified with Mapshaper (https://mapshaper.org/).And the river system data are sourced from OpenStreetMap (https://openstreetmap/).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor contributions\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eY.S. and Y.M. contributed to writing the full manuscript, collecting, analyzing, and visualizing data, and preparing the figures. W.G., S.J., and S.Z. contributed to organizing the article structure, reviewing and editing the writing, guiding and managing the overall work, and supervising the project.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCompeting interests\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLitao Z et al. Temporal and spatial distribution of ancient sites in Shaanxi Province using geographic information systems (GIS). Herit Sci.2021,9(1).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSpatiotemporal evolution and human-. environment relationships of early cultural sites from the Longshan to Xia-Shang periods in Henan Province, China. Herit Sci. 2025;13(1):74.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eZhang H, et al. The Paleolithic-Bronze age sites in Sichuan Province: Distribution and influencing factors. Mar Geol Quaternary Geol. 2025;45(01):188\u0026ndash;98.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eXiaojia L. Determination of the temporal\u0026ndash;spatial distribution patterns of ancient heritage sites in China and their influencing factors via. GIS[J] Herit Sci,2024,12(1).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTan Shixin. Distribution Changes of Archaeological Cultural Types in Henan during the Mid-Holocene [J]. Agricultural Archaeol, 2017, (01): 21\u0026ndash;5.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eZhang Gaoling. Archaeological Discoveries and Research on the Neolithic Age in Henan Since the Founding of New China [J]. China National Exhibition; 2022. pp. 203\u0026ndash;6. 14.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eZhao Lingjie. Tracing the Origins of Neolithic Culture in the Yellow River Basin of China [J]. Henan Libr J. 2022;42(10):122\u0026ndash;3.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eYuan Guangkuo. Archaeological Research on the Neolithic Age in Henan [M]. Beijing: Science, September 2020.09.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWang Huibin L. Haifeng. Study on the Interactive Development of Agricultural Economy and Social Progress in the Central Plains During the Neolithic Age [J]. Agricultural Archaeol, 2025, (03): 48\u0026ndash;53.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFan Y, Qimeng D, ,Baozeng C et al. The Agriculture and Society in the Yiluo River Basin: Archaeobotanical Evidence From the Suyang Site[J].Frontiers in Earth Science,2022,10.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBestel S, Bao Y, ,Zhong H, et al. Wild plant use and multi-cropping at the early Neolithic Zhuzhai site in the middle Yellow River region. China[J] Holocene. 2018;28(2):195\u0026ndash;207.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWang C, Lu H, ,Gu W et al. Temporal changes of mixed millet and rice agriculture in Neolithic-Bronze Age Central Plain, China: Archaeobotanical evidence from the Zhuzhai site[J].The Holocene,2018,28(5):738\u0026ndash;54.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eXiaolin R, Junjie X, ,Hui W et al. Holocene fluctuations in vegetation and human population demonstrate social resilience in the prehistory of the Central Plains of China[J].Environmental Research Letters,2021,16(5).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJing Y, Campbell R, ,Castellano L et al. Subsistence and persistence: agriculture in the Central Plains of China through the Neolithic to Bronze Age transition[J].Antiquity,2020,94(376):900\u0026ndash;15.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChen L, Li K. Mid-Holocene hydroclimatic changes drove Neolithic agricultural development in the Luoyang Basin of the Central Plains, China[J].Catena,2025,258109241-109241.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLuan Fuming X, Heigang W. Spatial-temporal Changes and Man-land Relationship of Cultural Heritage Sites in Xinjiang [J]. Areal Res Dev. 2017;36(05):134\u0026ndash;9.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJiang S, Luo W, ,Zhou X et al. Collapse of prehistoric cultures in central-eastern China linked to the El Ni\u0026ntilde;o-like states during the 4.2 ka event[J]. Glob Planet Change,2025,248104772\u0026ndash;104772.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDu L, Ma M, Lu Y, Dong J, Dong G. How Did Human Activity and Climate Change Influence Animal Exploitation During 7500\u0026ndash;2000 BP in the Yellow River Valley, China? Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 8 (2020).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLi Zhongxuan Z, Cheng W, Guoxi, et al. Spatial and temporal distribution of prehistoric human sites and its driving factors in Henan province [J]. Acta Geogr Sin. 2013;68(11):1527\u0026ndash;37.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLi Z, Zhu C, ,Wu G et al. Spatial pattern and temporal trend of prehistoric human sites and its driving factors in Henan Province, Central China[J]. J Geographical Sci 2015,25(9):1109\u0026ndash;21.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTan B, Wang H, Wang X et al. The study of early human settlement preference and settlement prediction in Xinjiang, China. Sci Rep (Nature Publisher Group). 2022,12(1).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWu L, Sun X, ,Sun W et al. Evolution of Neolithic site distribution (9.0\u0026ndash;4.0 ka BP) in Anhui, East China[J]. J Geographical Sci 2020,30(9):1451\u0026ndash;66.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGao Mingcan, L\u0026uuml; Hongyi Z, Bingxue, et al. Study on Time and Space Distribution of Early Cultural Sites in Hedong Region [J]. Areal Res Dev. 2022;41(01):175\u0026ndash;80.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDeping C, Chengkun H, ,Feiyang L. Spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of cultural heritage sites and their relationship with natural and cultural environment in the northern Fujian. China[J] Herit Sci,2024,12(1).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLi K, Huang Z, ,Pang Y et al. Cultural heritage of the Qin-Shu Ancient Road in Shaanxi: Spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors.[J].PloS one,2025,20(9):e0331676.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChao H, Chang X, ,Xu C. Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Sanxingdui (3.7\u0026ndash;3.1 ka BP) and Shi\u0026rsquo;erqiao (3.1\u0026ndash;2.6 ka BP) Sites on the Chengdu Plain. Southwest China[J] Land 2025,14(12):2379\u0026ndash;2379.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJishuai Y, Dongju Z, ,Xiaoyan Y et al. Sustainable intensification of millet\u0026ndash;pig agriculture in Neolithic North China[J].Nature Sustainability,2022,5(9):780\u0026ndash;6.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLiu L, Wang J, ,Liu H. The brewing function of the first amphorae in the Neolithic Yangshao culture. North China[J] Archaeol Anthropol Sci. 2020;12(1):331\u0026ndash;55.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eZhang Juzhong G, Chunguang. Evolution of the Cultural Pattern and the Emergence of Rudimentary Civilizations in the Central Plains during the Early Neolithic Age [J]. South Cult Relics, 2023, (06): 21\u0026ndash;30.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDai Xiangming. Defining the Central Plains: New Perspectives on the Central Plains Cultural Area from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age [J]. Social Sci Digest, 2025, (04): 45\u0026ndash;7.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChen Xianglong. The Development of Subsistence Economy and Social Changes in the Central Plains during the Neolithic Age: Reflections Based on Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotope Research Findings in Henan [J]. South Cult Relics, 2021, (01): 179\u0026ndash;90.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eShen Y, Li W, ,Kemuyama Y, et al. Interplay of dietary diversity and mobility of the Late Neolithic people in the Central Plains of China: multi-isotope analysis at the Haojiatai site:Anthropology in the Dawn of Chinese Civilization. Original Articles[J] Anthropol Sci. 2024;132(2):85\u0026ndash;104.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBai Qian. A Preliminary Study on the Subsistence Modes in the Henan Region during the Neolithic Age [J]. South Cult Relics, 2020, (01): 167\u0026ndash;78.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eYue Y, Xianglong C, ,Anke H et al. Pig domestication and human subsistence at the early Neolithic site of Guanjia (6100\u0026ndash;5500 BC), Central China[J].Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences,2024,16(3).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMa Xiaolin. Discovery and Research on the Miaodigou Phase Remains of Yangshao Culture in Henan [J]. Cult Relics Cent China, 2021, (05): 39\u0026ndash;51.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eYuan Guangkuo. The Path of Archaeological Research on the Neolithic Age in the Central Plains: Reflections on the Series of Papers Studies on the Peiligang Culture [J]. South Cult Relics, 2021, (02): 183\u0026ndash;7.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSun B, Yang Y, ,Ma J et al. Phytolith analysis reveals crop structural changes from the late Peiligang to Shijiahe Cultural Periods (ca. 7.4\u0026ndash;4.2 ka BP) at the Huangshan site in Nanyang Basin, Central China[J].Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports,2025,67105419-105419.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eYuan Guangkuo. The Peiligang Culture and Related Issues: An Archaeometric Perspective [J]. South Cult Relics, 2021, (02): 183\u0026ndash;7.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eZichen X, Ying H, ,Siwei S et al. Changes and continuity in pottery production and use at Wujiafentou in the core zone of Youziling and Shijiahe cultures in central China[J].Heritage Science,2024,12(1).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eZhang Xuelian Q, Shihua Z, Jian, et al. Studies on Diet of the Ancient People of the Yangshao Cultural Sites in the Central Plains [J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica. 2010;29(02):197\u0026ndash;207.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Geographic information system, Henan Province, Neolithic Age, ancient sites, and spatiotemporal distribution","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8830445/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8830445/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe research of prehistoric sites can help reveal the evolution patterns of ancient human life and provide a basis for cultural relic protection and civilization inheritance. This research employs statistical and GIS spatial analysis methods, including kernel density estimation, average nearest neighbor analysis, and standard deviational ellipse, to systematically analyze the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and influencing factors of 362 cultural sites from the Neolithic Age in Henan Province, China. The findings are discussed in conjunction with existing research on subsistence patterns, social changes, and environmental evolution. The results indicate that: (1) Regarding spatiotemporal distribution, the core area of Neolithic sites in Henan Province is located at the Zhengzhou-Luoyang region. From the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture, a \"single-core\" distribution pattern is observed, which then gradually expands into a \"multi-core\" pattern by the Longshan Culture. The Dawenkou Culture is primarily distributed in the Zhoukou and Shangqiu regions, while the Qujialing and Shijiahe Cultures are centered in the Nanyang Basin, all with a relatively limited distribution range. (2) Regarding spatial aggregation and directional characteristics, the degree of site aggregation gradually increases from the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture and slightly decreases during the Longshan stage. The directional distribution weakens significantly from the Peiligang Culture to the Yangshao Culture and then strengthens slightly during the Longshan Culture, with the spatial orientation shifting from southeast-northwest to northeast-southwest and then reverting to the original direction. The distribution range of these three cultures gradually expands, with the centroid moving northwestward and then southeastward. The sites of the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures exhibit a uniform distribution pattern, with the Dawenkou Culture indicating strong directionality in a northeast-southwest orientation. The Qujialing Culture to the Shijiahe Culture demonstrate a significant increase in directionality, both oriented southeast-northwest, with the centroid shifting northwestward. (3) Regarding natural influencing factors, they reveal that the Yangshao Culture has a broader elevation distribution range compared to the Peiligang Culture, with an overall increase during the Yangshao stage and a decrease during the Longshan stage. Sun-facing orientation weakens initially and then strengthens, while river proximity gradually diminishes. The sites of the Dawenkou, Qujialing, and Shijiahe Cultures have a relatively narrow elevation range, with strong sun-facing orientation and river proximity, both of which gradually intensify in the latter two cultures. Overall, the six types of cultural sites are predominantly distributed in areas with a slope below 5\u0026deg;, and this trend gradually strengthens, with a significant correlation between elevation and slope. (4) Regarding human influencing factors, the formation of the Central Plains Culture during the Neolithic Age in Henan is the result of interaction and integration between local and surrounding cultures, reflecting cultural exchanges between the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin. Meanwhile, the transition in subsistence patterns from foraging, fishing, and hunting to farming and livestock rearing significantly impacts social structure and civilizational development.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Spatiotemporal Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Neolithic Ancient Sites in Henan Province Based on GIS","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-04 10:13:54","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8830445/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"26d29593-d1c9-4531-ba07-7a1072f534b6","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 4th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-06T21:39:21+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-04 10:13:54","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8830445","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8830445","identity":"rs-8830445","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}