Longshan Culture, dating from 3,000BC to 2,000 BC, is a late Neolithic culture on the central and lower Yellow River in China. The early period of the Longshan Culture is considered started from 3000 to 2600 BC, while the late period is between 2600 BC and 2000 BC. Longshan Culture is named after Longshan, Shandong Province, the first excavated site of this culture. A variety of regions of China are involved among the various sub-periods of the Longshan Culture, particularly for the Late Longshan period.

The distinctive feature of Longshan Culture was the skillful pottery making, including the use of pottery wheels. Longshan Culture was noted for its highly polished black pottery or egg-shell pottery, thus it is also called the “Black Pottery Culture”. This type of thin-walled and polished black pottery has also been discovered in the Yangzi River valley and as far as the southeastern coast of China.

The agriculture and animal husbandry in north China in that period had made great progress as compared with the Yangshao Culture. Production tools saw speedy growth in terms of both quantity and variety. The fast-wheel potting technique appearing in Dawenkou Culture was widely applied, which greatly increased the productivity.

Bronze smelting technologies were invented at that time. And there were technical progress in architecture. The rectangular soil-platform buildings, found in Longshan Culture site, were constructed by ramming. They show that the rammed earth constructions popular in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties had come into existence in this period.

It also reveals that people had developed a habit to use bones to take auspices and that witchery was prevalent at that time. Rice cultivation was also established by that time. Small-scale production of silk by raising and domesticating the silkworm also appeared in Longshan Culture period.

The population in China reached its peak during the Longshan Culture period. However, toward the end of the Longshan Culture, the population decreased sharply. Life during the Longshan culture marked a transition to the establishment of cities, as rammed earth walls and moats began to appear. Longshan Culture period had entered the patriarchic society when private-owned properties appeared and a society with class ranks came into being. The cultural origins of Xia, Shang, and Zhou are closely associated with Longshan Culture.