Hubei comprehensively launched the survey of cultural relics resources of the Yangtze River in December 2021, which set up a special topic of prehistoric city site survey. Many experts here said in an interview with reporters on the 19th that many prehistoric city sites distributed in Hubei have provided key information for exploring the process of prehistoric civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. At present, more than 20 prehistoric city sites have been found in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, most of which are in Hubei. The process of civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River began about the period of youziling culture and developed to the period of Qujialing culture to Shijiahe culture. The social complexity of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River further intensified and became an important representative of the pluralistic pattern of early Chinese civilization. Luo Yunbing, vice president of Hubei Institute of cultural relics and archaeology, said that since the period of Qujialing culture, a large number of city sites of different sizes have appeared in Jianghan area. Shijiahe site, Chenghe site and Qujialing site in Hubei have become important witnesses to the most glorious stage of the development of prehistoric civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Shijiahe site, located in the heart of Jianghan Plain in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, is the largest and highest ranking prehistoric settlement group in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Hubei has carried out a series of exploration and excavation in recent years and found that there are multiple large-scale moat ruins built manually in the core area of the site, which provides an important clue for the macro understanding of the layout and structure of Shijiahe site. The excavation of the yinxintai site in the West outside the ancient city of Shijiahe revealed a large number of relics related to sacrifice, such as platform foundation, urn coffin, buckle bowl and set jar. It is the largest prehistoric sacrifice site in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Yu Xiyun, a professor at Wuhan University, said that early cities were an important topic to explore the origin of civilization. Shijiahe prehistoric city site has a huge scale and complex structure. Many city sites in the same period are distributed like stars and the moon. The social complexity reflected by it is not lower than that of Liangzhu ancient city. The special topic on the investigation of prehistoric city sites of cultural relics resources in the Yangtze River is conducive to a more comprehensive information collection of prehistoric city sites in Hubei and promote comprehensive research. Meng Huaping, a professor at Hubei University, believes that no matter from the perspective of the largest Shijiahe city site in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, or from the special zoning of settlement functions such as the large-scale sacrificial site of yinxintai, or from the symbols engraved in the unearthed relics, the representativeness of malachite and the richness of the unearthed relics, Shijiahe site can undoubtedly be regarded as the center of civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and has an important position of cultural guidance and cultural radiation. The Chenghe site in Jingmen, Hubei Province represents the prehistoric medium-sized city sites in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Since 2012, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of social sciences has carried out six excavations and systematic exploration in cooperation with the Hubei Institute of cultural relics and archaeology. Industry insiders said that the systematic excavation of the trinity of Chenghe ruins, city walls, residential sites and cemeteries has provided more comprehensive information for the study of the process of civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Qujialing site in Hubei Province is the named place of Qujialing culture and the representative of the super large huanhao settlement in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. A batch of copper ores from Qujialing culture to Shijiahe period found at the site provide important clues for the prehistoric mining and metallurgy development in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. (outlook new era)