Objective To analyze the origins of Chinese medicine based on archaeological literature. Methods The archaeological reports from January 1930 to December 2010 were searched in China National Knowledge Internet（ CNKI）

VIP Database and Wanfang Database. Other archaeological literature published from 1921 was manually searched. The archaeological literature related to the origins of Chinese medicine in the Neolithic Age and Xia

Shang and Zhou Dynasties was included to establish a database. The post time

involving areas and cultural distribution were analyzed. Results A total of 1 621 articles were included. The top 3 time periods with a large amount of literature were 1981- 1990（ 556 articles）

1950- 1966（ 488 articles） and 1967- 1980（ 231 articles）. The top 3 provinces with most related archaeological sites were Henan Province（ 395 articles）

Shannxi Province（ 226 articles） and Zhejiang Province（ 148 articles）. There were 315 articles with a clear explanation of cultural distribution. There were98 articles belonging to Longshan Culture

77 articles belonging to Yangshao Culture

76 articles belonging to Liangzhu Culture

19 articles belonging to Hemudu Culture and 45 articles belonging to other culture. Conclusion Chinese medicine is originated in the Yellow River Regions and the Yangtze River Regions and not later than the Neolithic Age.