Author: Myles Bao

China has been supporting an Archaelogical China project for the past couple of years. Its mission has been to excavate and evaluate historical artifacts in two places, Erlitou, and Zhengzhou Shangcheng. These two places have recently blossomed in importance as Erlitou is the supposed capital of the mysterious Xia dynasty. Zhengzhou is one of the major cities in the mid-Shang dynasty era. For years the Xia dynasty’s existence has been debated. While we have found evidence of a dynasty pre-dating the Shang dynasty without contemporary evidence it is difficult to prove its existence. However, recent excavations at Erlitou may shed some light on this.

A difficulty many historians face is dealing with whether or not the Xia dynasty really was a dynasty. Opposing arguments claim that there may have been villages or small gatherings of individuals pre-dating the Shang dynasty. However, to prove that these collections of villages and towns were a dynasty requires we learn about rulers, economic systems, and cultural norms.

Just recently, the Archaelogical China project uncovered another part of Erlitou with clear evidence of roads and walls. As they continued excavating they found a multi-grid patterned city spanning about 3 million square meters or approximately 740 acres. The pattern is square-shaped with multiple distinct sections. The roads all lead to the center of the 740-acre land where a palace was discovered. The walls were designed similarly to that shown in the Maze Runner. The walls appeared as if to separate rather than protect these individuals. Additionally, further analysis reveals tombs and funeral structures. The most interesting thing here is that based on the relative location of the palace those closers appear to be more wealthy and those farther away appear to be less wealthy. This is groundbreaking as it implies two things. First off, the intricate city design meant that the design had been planned. Unlike primitive towns or villages where people simply settled down, the roads and walls indicate planning something evident of an advanced society. Additionally, the presence of tombs and a hierarchical structure mean that the people had a set of etiquette or rules. Tombs and burial sites were not something important until the Shang dynasty when the emperors wished to be buried with their wealth. So, therefore, the presence of tombs filled with wealth and riches indicates once again that this site in Erlitou was an advanced society. Lastly, the evidence shows that people were separated by wealth. This is further evidence that this was an advanced society. Hierarchical structures indicate that there was a ruler who placed people into categories or that they separated themselves into categories. However, the wide wealth disparity most likely meant there were different classes of jobs or occupations that allowed for this wealth gap.

Apart from the people themselves artifacts uncovered around the region also provide evidence of a developed group of people. A wide variety of pottery-related items was discovered. Ranging from pottery kilns, mud pits, mud billets, fired soil, slag, deformed potter, and pottery tools. Additionally, fragmented pottery pieces were shown to also have a red lacquer on them. This indicates that not only were they capable of using bone and horn tools to create pottery but they also attempted to decorate them. This implies that there was a handcrafting class of individuals. This also implies that there may have been merchants in charge of trading and dealing with these products.

Apart from these discoveries at Erlitou they also uncovered fascinating ruins at Zhengzhou Shangcheng. Zhengzhou is a mid-Shang dynasty city that most likely was built around 3600 years ago. Recently a small area of about 10,000 meters or 2.5 acres was uncovered revealing a cemetery. This cemetery was found to house the wealthiest individuals in the entire city. With 25 tombs each one had over 200 valuable artifacts including but not limited to, jade, gold, turquoise tube beads, and plaques inlaid with turquoise. Not only that, but within the largest of the 25 tombs was a sacrificial room with 6 dog sacrifices. This is extremely rare as it was often rare for an individual to have domesticated dogs at the time. However, the most surprising was the gold foil found within the dog sacrificial tombs. Archaeologists were shocked to discover that during this era they already had the capability to produce such thin metal. This moves forward our understanding of Shang dynasty technology a lot.