Abstract/Summary

The Beixin Culture appears within the hilly southwestern area of the Haidai region of northern China at ca. 5000 BC, and spreads to its north and northeast flood plains in the following millennium, replacing the Houli Culture. Does the Beixin Culture represent a further example of recently established farmers dispersing into a new territory, in this case being dependent on millet farming and coming from the Huai River Valley? We test this hypothesis by analysing and interpreting the archaeobotanical remains from Guanqiaocunnan, 4340-3970 BC. We conclude that the Beixin Culture represents the dispersal of hunter-gatherers/cultivators rather than farmers.