1 The Neolithic ceremonial complex at Niuheliang and wider Hongshan landscapes in North‐eastern China Hai Zhang 1 , Andrew Bevan 2 , and Dashun Guo 3 Postprint of paper in Journal of World Prehistory. Abstract This paper reviews the current evidence for settlement patterns and ceremonial activity amongst Hongshan Neolithic groups in north‐eastern China, with particular attention to the well‐known ceremonial site at Niuheliang. In particular, we consider the locational properties of Hongshan ceremonial sites in their wider landscape settings, arguing that such sites are a chronologically late stage of Hongshan ceremonial investment and that, within these broad complexes, the most impressive architecture and portable goods come from an especially late phase of activity. These more impressive localities were also particularly privileged places in terms of their access to major routes through the landscape, specific kinds of local geology and integrated patterns of visibility. In contrast to more loosely organized, similarly‐ sized Hongshan residential sites, it is clear that ceremonial centres such as Niuheliang (and, within these, certain important sub‐localities) were key mechanisms for social, political and regional stratification around roughly the mid 6th millennium BP. Keywords: Hongshan, sacred landscapes, site location models, viewsheds, GIS 1. Introduction Archaeological discoveries over the past two decades have made it very clear that a range of otherwise culturally distinct Neolithic societies across China undergo significant social and economic changes starting from about the mid 6 th millennium BP. For example, apparent public structures and elaborate residences have been found in Late Yangshao period settlements in central China, while finely‐decorated pottery forms and carved jade artefacts probably indicate elite burials at the Dawenkou, Lingjiatan and Songze cemeteries in eastern China. While it would be 1 School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. email: haizhang@pku.edu.cn 2 Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31‐34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom email: a.bevan@ucl.ac.uk 3 Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Shenyang 110003, China.