The culture is named after the site discovered in 1977 at Peiligang, a village in Xinzheng County, Zhengzhou, north-central Henan province.

Archaeologists believe that the Peiligang culture was egalitarian, with little political organization.

[1] The people hunted deer and wild boar, and fished for carp in the nearby river, using nets made from hemp fibers.

Common artifacts include stone arrowheads, spearheads and axe heads; stone tools such as chisels, awls and sickles for harvesting grain; and a broad assortment of pottery items for such purposes as cooking and storing grain.

The cultivation of rice, for example, was unique to Jiahu and was not practiced among the villages of the main Peiligang group in the north.