The
Zhukaigou culture was a late
Neolithic and early
Bronze Age culture centered in the
Ordos Plateau of
Inner Mongolia,
China. The type site at Zhukaigou was discovered in
Ejin Horo Banner, Inner Mongolia, and excavated from 1977 to 1984. Zhukaigou culture is a reputed progenitor of the
Ordos bronze culture and accordingly a first "Northern Zone" culture, extending to northern and central Inner Mongolia, northern Shaanxi, and northern Shanxi, with the Ordos region at its center. Transition to metalworking is dated to around the end of the third millennium BCE, at the same time was attained a higher level in the ceramic. Zhukaigou culture lasted to ca. 1500 BCE.