中文摘要：

随着区域性考古调查方法在田野考古实践中的应用，中国考古学界正逐步积累详尽而丰富的数据资料。在此基础上，中外学者引用考古区域分析的方法，在解释聚落形态和社会复杂化进程问题方面进行了有益的尝试。应用相同的方法分析中国考古遗存，不仅有利于世界考古学界进一步了解中国考古遗存所体现的既具有人类社会演进共性又富有鲜明个性的社会发展特点，更有利于我国学者结合本国的研究实际认识、掌握、合理运用并修订相关研究方法。

英文摘要：

This paper introduced the principle of the rank-size rule and the issues such as the judgment for size and region and the interpretations of the curves, and discussed the application of the rank-size rule in China. This paper points out that first, the distribution pattern shown by the rank-size curves only provides clues and references for the researches on the social formation and the social forms represented by the settlements, and other issues should still be comprehensively studied with the references of other elements; second, the precisions of the results, the divisions of the analyzing regions and the selections of the scale parameters can all influence the pattern of the rank-size curves and the final interpretations. This paper also discussed the issues of the selection of proper chronological table and the function of the archaeological cultural research results in the analyses.