Hongshan culture in the context of Kōsaku Hamada

The Liao Civilization or Liao River Civilization (Chinese: 遼河文明), named after the Liao River, is an umbrella term for several ancient civilizations that originated in the Liao basin. It is thought to have first formed in 6,200 BC. This civilization was discovered when Ryuzo Torii, a Japanese archaeologist, discovered the Hongshan culture in 1908.

The Lower Xiajiadian culture (simplified Chinese: 夏家店下层文化; traditional Chinese: 夏家店下層文化; pinyin: Xiàjiādiàn xiàcéng wénhuà; 2200–1600 BC) is an archaeological culture in Northeast China, found mainly in southeastern Inner Mongolia, northern Hebei, and western Liaoning, China. Subsistence was based on millet farming supplemented with animal husbandry and hunting. Archaeological sites have yielded the remains of pigs, dogs, sheep, and cattle. The culture built permanent settlements and achieved relatively high population densities. The population levels reached by the Lower Xiajiadian culture in the Chifeng region would not be matched until the Liao Dynasty. The culture was preceded by the Hongshan culture, through the transitional Xiaoheyan culture. The type site is represented by the lower layer at Xiajiadian in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia.

Archaeogenetic data shows that "the West Liao River Valley was a contact zone between northern steppe tribes and the Central Plain farming population. The formation and development of the Lower Xiajiadian Culture population was likely a complex process affected by admixture of ethnically different people". The Lower Xiajiadian culture remains displayed high genetic affinity to "Yellow River farmers" but were not identical to them, in contrast, the Upper Xiajiadian remains displayed high genetic affinity to Ancient Northeast Asian Amur hunter-gatherers and later Xianbei. Archaeological and DNA evidence supports examples that the people of the Lower Xiajiadian Culture immigrating to the south and contributed to the gene pool of the Central Plain population during the Bronze Age.