Recent research indicates a common origin and spread of the Sino-Tibetan languages with the Cishan, Yangshao and/or Majiayao cultures.

Once the soil was exhausted, residents picked up their belongings, moved to new lands, and constructed new villages.

[6] Middle Yangshao settlements such as Jiangzhi contain raised-floor buildings that may have been used for the storage of surplus grains.

Yangshao villages typically covered ten to fourteen acres and were composed of houses around a central square.

[6] Although early reports suggested a matriarchal culture,[13] others argue that it was a society in transition from matriarchy to patriarchy, while still others believe it to have been patriarchal.

[16] Yangshao, in Mianchi County, Sanmenxia, western Henan, the place which gave the culture its name, has a museum next to the archaeological site.

[17] The archaeological site of the village of Banpo near Xi'an is one of the best-known ditch-enclosed settlements of the Yangshao.

Another major settlement called Jiangzhai was excavated out to its limits, and archaeologists found that it was completely surrounded by a ring-ditch.