Page 37 - Deydier Early Chinese Bronzes

Thesis no. 3:
The end of the Longshan culture 龍山文化 and the beginning of the
Erlitou culture in the west of Henan 豫西 correspond to the Xia dynasty
夏代, but the end of the Erlitou cultural period is directly connected to
what is known as the Erligang period 二里崗時期, which corresponds to
the beginning of the Shang dynasty 商代.

In spite of the differences in all of these theories, a consensus seems to
have been reached at least as concerns the early periods of Erlitou, i.e.
Periods I and II, which all agree correspond to the Xia dynasty 夏代.

Important points to be considered:

In spite of the lack of contemporary written records dating to the actual
Xia dynasty 夏代, archaeologists do have several indisputable facts at
their disposal to help them reach a definite conclusion:

The Erlitou culture 二里頭文化 extends over a different period than
that of the Longshan culture 龍山文化 to its east and even though the
Erlitou culture reached a more evolved degree than that of Longshan,
the Erlitou culture was derived from the Longshan culture, while also
having important connections with the later period of the Qijia culture
齊家文化.

The numerous sites from which Erlitou cultural material has been
excavated coincide remarkably with the traditional geographic
distribution ascribed by ancient texts to the Xia people 夏民族. In spite
of theories attributing parts of the four periods at the Erlitou site to the
Xia 夏代 and Shang dynasties 商代, information obtained from carbon
14 test results offers us a more precise dating of the site and so of the
culture that once flourished there.

Carbon 14 tests have shown that the 4 periods at the Erlitou site lasted
for about 500 years beginning from 1920 B.C. ± 140 years /1900 B.C.
± 130 years for Period I and lasting to 1625 B.C. ± 130 years in Period IV
(sample ZK286).

Radiocarbon testing has also yielded some interesting results for the
Shang sites 商文化遺址 at Zhengzhou 鄭州 and that at Erligang 二里崗:

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