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2. Foundations of the Bronze Age: The Erligang Culture
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Chapter 2 Foundations of the Bronze Age: The Erligang Culture Ie. 1600-1 300 B.C.E.) If Erlitou witnessed the dawn of the Bronze Age in North China, then the far more extensive Erligang Culture represents its broad foundations. The material evidence documented at sites of this archaeological culture (Map 5) underlies the civilization with which Chinese history properly begins, and also constitutes the baseline for developments outside the central plains. Since its discovery in the early 1950s at Zhengzhou (Henan), the Erligang Culture has been interpreted as the direct predecessor of the historic Shang culture known from Anyang (see Chapters 3-4). Chinese scholars generally assume Zhengzhou itself was a capital occupied by the same lineage of Shang kings who later established themselves near Anyang. Thus in historical discourse, the Erligang Culture has been defined as "Early Shang" (Table 2.1). While its roots were once seen to lie further west near Luoyang with Erlitou, recent scholarship has moved away from that view. Now, most scholars assume Shang culture developed instead from roots in eastern and northern Henan and southern Hebei. A Network of Sites During the mid-second millennium B.e.E., one (or more) early states emerged in the North China macroregion and, over time, occupied several large, walled centers (du, "capitals"). Foremost among these large sites are the Erligang period walls at Zhengzhou and Yanshi. A slightly larger number of lesser walled sites are also known, most probably either satellites of powerful kings ruled by local lords or citadels established to guard specific territory or resources. These fortified sites are found in two directions from Zhengzhou and Yanshi: far south near the Yangzi River at Panlongcheng (Huangpi, now Wuhan, Hubei), and west across the Yellow River at Fucheng (Jiaozuo, Henan), Gucheng Foundations of the Bronze Age: The Erligang Culture 63 Map 5. Erligang period sites, ordered by province, with site name and county or city: (1) Henan: Erligang and Xiaoshuangqiao, Zhengzhou; Shang cheng, Yanshi; Fucheng,jiaozuo; Mengzhuang, Zhecheng; (2) Shandong: Daxinzhuang,jinan; (3) Hebei: Taixi, Gaocheng; (4) Shanxi: Gucheng, Yuanqu; Dongxiafeng, Xiaxian; (5) Shaanxi: Laoniupo, Xi'an; Baoshan, Chenggu; (6) Sichuan: Sanxingdui, Guanghan; (7) Hubei: Panlongcheng, Wuhan; (8) Hunan: Zaoshi, Shimen; Feijiahe, Yueyang; (9) jiangxi: Tanshuzui, Tongling; Wucheng, Zhangshu; Dayangzhou, Xin'gan. (Yuanqu, Shanxi), and Dongxiafeng (Xiaxian, Shanxi). Within the region , a much larger number of nuclear settlements (yi) stretched across the landscape, populated by elite warriors and the laborers, both artisans and farmers, whose crafts and crops sustained society. Settlements (such as Mengzhuang in eastern Henan or Taixi in central Hebei) are less conspicuous in the current archaeological record than their probable numbers would require. However, the one-time existence of additional settlements is indicated by elite burials that dot the North China macroregion and adjacent zones. While some regional settlement surveys have been carried out (notably around the Yi-Luo Rivers and Anyang), for the most part it is difficult to situate these several kinds of sites in regional hierarchies. Their size and features do suggest, crudely, possible status and function (Table 2.2). 64 Chapter 2 TABLE 2.1. Archaeological Cultures and Periods This sequence of archaeological cultures may recapitulate the growth and development of Shang culture in Henan as a whole, although the relationship between the Erlitou and Erligang Cultures remains problematic and most Chinese scholars equate Erlitou instead with the Xia. The majority of these periods are represented, if only slightly, at the two longest-lived Henan site complexes, Zhengzhou and Anyang. Erlitou Type site: Yanshi, Henan Periods I-IV Erligang [Early Shang] Type site: Zhengzhou, Henan Lower I-II Upper I-II Huan-bei [Middle Shang, Transitional] Type Site: Huayuanzhuang, Anyang Henan I-III Yinxu [Late Shang] Type site: Anyang, Henan Yinxu I-IV 1900-1500 B. CE. 1600-1300 B. CE. 1300-1200 B. CE. 1250-1050 B.CE. TABLE 2.2. Erligang Period Walled Sites Area Wall dimen. Region Site (hectares) (NSx EW) Source North Zhengzhou Inner 300 1870 x 1700 ZZSC Outer 1300 KG 04.3 Yanshi 200 1700 x 1215 KG 84.6 Huan-bei 400 2000 x 2000 KG 03.5 Fucheng 7.8 280 x 280 KX 00.4 Yuanqu 13 396 x 400 YQSC Dongxiafeng -x370 DXF Middle Yangzi Panlongcheng 7.5 290 x 260 PLC Upper Yangzi Sanxingdui 350 2000 x 1800 Sun Sources: Henan Institute, Zhengzhou Shang cheng (2001), p. 178; History Museum, Yuanqu Shang cheng (1996), p. 14; Institute of Archaeology, Xiaxian Dongxiafeng (1988), p. 148; Hubei Institute, Panlongcheng...