Located in the north of Hanzhuang, a village 3 kilometers southwest of Sanmenxia city, Central China's Henan province, the Neolithic site of Miaodigou covers an area of about 360 thousand square meters. First discovered by An Zhimin (a famous archaeologist in China) in 1953, the Miaodigou site has been excavated twice. The discovery of the Miaodigou site, where the famous Miaodigou Culture was fostered, is a major breakthrough in China's Neolithic archaeology. Greatly enriching the connotation of China's first archaeological culture -- Yangshao Culture (around 4,700 to 7,000 BC), the Miaodigou Culture is further divided into two stages: Stage I, widely known as the Yangshao Culture · Miaodigou Type, and Stage II, a transitional phase between the Yangshao Culture and the later Longshan Culture (some 4,000 years ago). By clarifying the relationship between the Yangshao Culture and the Longshan Culture, the Miaodigou site plays a significant role in Chinese archaeology and helps to prove that Chinese civilization is inheritanceof generations, not cultural import from the West.
In 2001, the Miaodigou site was selected into the 5th batch of key historical and cultural sites under national-level protection and included on the list of China's top 100 archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
Besides, it was also listed among China's top 100 archaeological discoveries in the past century in 2021.On October 17 of the same year, the Miaodigou Museum officially opened to the public. (Zhao Hanqing Yang Jiaxin and Zhang Yahan)
