Cave dwellings are the product of the Loess Plateau. Xifeng loess, like the entire Loess Plateau, is a eolian soil deposit formed in the late Quaternary Early Pleistocene, about 1.2 million years old. The thickness of the loess layer is generally 50 to 100 meters, and the thickest part can reach 200 meters. Because the loess layer is thick and the soil is dense, it is very suitable for digging holes and building caves, and it is not easy to collapse for hundreds to thousands of years. For thousands of years, cave dwellings have been an important residence for the people of Xifeng. There are many types of cave dwellings, but there are basically three types according to the major categories: one is the Mingzhuang cave dwelling; the second is the sunken pit courtyard cave dwelling; the third is the hoop cave. There are many other types of cave dwellings according to their uses. For example, in order to prevent theft, a small cave is built on the front cave, which is called a high cave; a small cave that can hide things is built on one side of the cave, which is called a crooked cave; if the cave is small, a small cave is dug at the place where the kang is laid, which is called a kang cave; in order to avoid war, a long and deep cave is dug near the village, which is called a ground cellar. The cave dwellings in the residential courtyards have different names due to their different uses, including guest caves, kitchen caves, livestock pen caves, firewood caves, grain caves, well caves, mill caves, car caves, etc. The cave dwellings are the cradle of farmers' lives. They have played an extremely important role in the reproduction and survival of the people on the Loess Plateau. The cave dwellings are an important cultural heritage of the Chinese nation, a great innovation of Chinese architectural technology, and a "living fossil" in the history of human habitation. Xifeng has become a representative of the cave dwelling culture in Qingyang due to its geographical environment.