Study Of The Erlitou Culture

The Erlitou culture is a kind of new archaeological culture earlier than the Erligang culture in central China. It not only distributes in a certain area, but also has outstanding cultural characteristics. For example, settlements can be classified into large, medium and small hierarchies; there is a group of normally concomitant pottery; assembled drinking objects are usually found from graves; Ge and Yue are the main bronze weapons. Because its spatio-temporal range falls into the Xia Dynasty based on the historical record, the Erlitou culture becomes the primary object in exploring the first dynasty in Chinese history—the Xia Dynasty and its culture.The historical period that the Erlitou culture came through was the important period of the formation and development of ancient Chinese states. Therefore, since the Erlitou culture was discovered in the 1950s, scholars have widely debated on many questions such as its chronology, quality and so on. As for the division between the Xia and Shang Dynasties in the Erlitou culture, the viewpoints that take each of the Erlitou I, II, III and IV periods as the division all exist among archaeologists. In recent years, the publication of some archaeological reports, such as Erlitou in Yanshi, Dashigu in Zhengzhou and Yangzhuang in Zhumadian, has provided a wealth of information about the Erlitou culture. Moreover, I have conducted the excavations at Nanzhai and Beizhai in Yichuan, as well as Huangyu in Luohe, which have also presented archaeological data for further research on the Erlitou culture. This dissertation systematically investigates the Erlitou culture, guided by dialectic materialism and historical materialism, and employs the method of archaeological typology.This study includes six chapters.Chapter 1 presents a systematic review of previous discoveries and studies of the Erlitou culture, summarizes the knowledge and research fruits about this culture, and introduces the research method employed in this study.Chapter 2 discusses the periodization and chronology of the Erlitou culture based on the analysis of representative sites in various regions. The Erlitou culture can be divided into three periods from the macroscopical and microcosmic perspectives.Chapter 3 discusses the relationship between the Erlitou culture and neighboring synchronic cultures. Based on the periodization, the Erlitou culture can be divided into two types—Yangzhuang and Luodamiao types. Among the neighboring cultures, this thesis mainly discusses the relationships between the Erlitou culture and the Dongxiafeng...