Ancient site · City
Erlitou
Erlitou, near Yanshi in Henan, is the type site of the Erlitou culture and is seen by most archaeologists as the centre of China's first state-level society. It had large palace compounds on rammed-earth platforms, roads, a walled palace area and workshops, and it monopolised the casting of ritual bronze vessels, including the earliest known ding.
Many Chinese archaeologists identify it with the later Xia dynasty of traditional histories, but because no contemporary writing has been found, many Western scholars consider that identification unproven. After about 1600 BCE nearby Yanshi took over.
- Dates
- c. 1750–1500 BCE (older estimates from c. 1900 BCE)
- Still standing
- No, or only traces
- Location
- 34.69° N, 112.69° E
How we know
The city is real and dated by radiocarbon, but no writing has been found there, so whether it was a capital of the Xia dynasty is debated.
Nearby sites
- Zhengzhou Shang City c. 1600–1400 BCE
- Peiligang c. 7000–5000 BCE (Peiligang culture)
- Jiahu c. 7000–5700 BCE
- Taosi c. 2300–1900 BCE
- Yinxu (Anyang) c. 1250–1046 BCE
- Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang and the Terracotta Army 246–209 BCE
Related
- Erlitou culture archaeological culture
- The world in 2000 BCE: Cities of Bronze chapter