长江中游地处华中,主要包括湖北、湖南两省,位于全国较中心的地区,地理条件优越,气候温和,十分适合人类的生存发展。长江中游地区的新石器文化十分发达,从20世纪50年代屈家岭文化的发现与确认至今,先后有大溪文化、石家河文化以及较早阶段的城背溪文化、皂市下层文化、彭头山文化等的发现,建立了一个比较完备的新石器文化的发展体系。学术界正积极探讨的稻作农业起源、聚落形态研究和文明起源探索等,都与长江中游新石器时代考古许多重要的发现分不开。东周时期的楚文化也是以长江中游地区为中心,楚文化十分发达和极具特色,在中国文化史、中国统一国家的形成、中华民族的融合等研究领域都地位重 Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in central China, including Hubei and Hunan provinces, located in the more central areas of the country, superior geographical conditions, a mild climate, very suitable for the survival and development of mankind. Neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is very developed. Since the discovery and confirmation of the Qujialing culture in the 1950s, there have been Daxi culture, Shijiahe culture and Chengbei culture at an earlier stage, Pengtoushan culture found that a relatively complete Neolithic culture development system. The academic research on the origin of rice agriculture, the research on settlement morphology and the origin of civilization are all inseparable from many important discoveries of Neolithic archeology in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The Chu culture in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty was also centered on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Chu culture was very developed and very distinctive. It possessed a great weight in research fields such as the history of Chinese culture, the formation of a unified state in China, and the integration of the Chinese nation