High Level Overview of Chinese History: Bronze Age III
By Kanguole - Own work based on Chang, Kwang-chih (1986) The Archaeology of Ancient China, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=111573260
The Erlitou culture, 二里頭 Èrlǐtóu, lived in the Yellow River valley, at nearly the same location as the Xia were said to have ruled, from about 1900-1500 BCE. It was discovered in 1959 in Henan and Shanxi Provinces in North China, but it was soon discovered that the largest sites were near Erlitou in the Yiluo Basin of Henan.
By H. Sondaz - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28827822
The Erlitou site showed evidence of bronze smelting workshops, a process they dominated, having a monopoly in the production of ritual bronze vessels. Some of these were the earliest known dings, a type of 'prehistoric and ancient Chinese caldrons standing up on legs with a lid and two facing handles', which were 'one of the most important shapes used in Chinese ritual bronzes'. They also made tools, animal-faced plaques, and 'bell musical instruments' in addition to weapons. It's likely they got their copper from Zhongtiao Mountains which run northeast-southwest in the Shanxi Province, which is also where they got salt from.
By Gary Lee Todd - Luoyang Museum, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15992816
Among other artifacts found at the site were carved jade, including ceremonial blades known as zhang and dagger-axes known as ge. The ceramics of the area have characters that might have been a precursor to early Chinese writing, though this is still a hypothesis as there has not been a clear link to let us know that this was definitely their purpose.
By User:Shibo77 - 《偃师二里头1959年~1978年考古发掘报告》, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15992652
The site's chronology is divided into four broad periods. The initial phase, Phase I, the site was established and covered roughly 100 ha, or about 250 acres, and was estimated to have several thousand people living there. This wasn't quite large enough to be considered an urban civilization. During Phase II, the site grew to about three times its initial size and to a population of about 11,000 people. It had palace grounds that covered 20 acres with a palace that measured 150 x 50 m built around three courtyards. There was a bronze foundry just south of the palatial complex and was likely controlled by the elite. During Phase III, a 2 m thick rammed earth wall surrounded the palatial complex and 4 other palaces were built, including one that was 9,600 sq m, as the population reached about 24,000. During Phase IV, the population decreased somewhat, to about 20,000, while construction continued. This also overlaps with the subsequent dominant culture in the area, the Erligang culture. At the end of Phase IV, bronze production in the area ceased, as well as the production of other goods aimed at the elite. There doesn't seem to have been a war in the area, but all palaces were abandoned between 1450-1300 BCE.
By Windmemories - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=106118590
China has a goal of finding the capitals of the Xia and Shang dynasties that have been recorded in traditional accounts, from oral tradition to recorded histories that began around 300 BCE. A school of thought, the Doubting Antiquity School of Chinese History, challenges the existence of these locations and even the historicity of the dynasties, regarding the two dynasties as a foundation myth. While the Erlitou culture roughly overlaps with the Xia's recorded territory and there was a flood that occurred about 1920 BCE, there is a 'lack of any firm evidence for such an identification' and the flood of 1920 BCE doesn't show evidence of being widespread. Critics of the attempt to identify the Xia's capitals and locations 'argue that the historiographical focus of Chinese archaeology is unduly limit[ed]' by the attempt.
