Shang Culture Stage Divided

The periodization of the Shang culture is an important aspect of Hisa-Shang archeology. At present, there are two views on its periodization in the academic circle: one for the dichotomy, the other for the trichotomy.Mr.Tsou Heng's opinion is on behalf of the dichotomy. He believes that the point of Wuding divides the Shang Dynasty culture as the early part and the late part, the Erligang Culture been the Early Shang Dynasty culture and the Yinxu Culture been the late Shang Dynasty culture. Having been influenced so widespread, this opinion is one of the problem that we need research on.On the end of the last century, Mr. Tang Jigen, as represented by the Archaeological Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, put forward the opinion of the trichotomy. They believe that the Shang Culture includes the Early Shang Dynasty culture, the middle Shang Dynasty culture and the late Shang Dynasty culture, and that the first to the third period of the Erligang Culture are the Early Shang Dynasty culture, the fourth period of that (the Baijiangzhuang period) and the Huayuangzhuang early and late Remains are the middle Shang Dynasty culture and the first to the fourth period of the Yinxu Culture is the late Shang Dynasty culture. This opinion is the other problem that we deed explore.At the basis of previous studies, combined with new archaeological discoveries, we believe that both the dichotomy and trichotomy are improper. The dichotomy assigns parts of relics units to the scope of pre-Shang Dynasty. In addition, the dichotomy puts the first period of the Yinxu culture into the culture of early Shang Dynasty, which separates the whole culture of the four periods and destroys the continuity of the Yinxu culture. The trichotomy puts the Baijiazhuang period into the middle Shang Dynasty culture, which divides it out from the Erligang culture , and separates the continuity of the four periods of the Erligang culture. Moreover, it regards the Huayuangzhuang early and late Remains as the main body of the second period and the third period of the middle Shang Dynasty culture. We believe that the existence of the Huayuangzhuang Remains lasts very shortly, and it need further research to verify that whether such short time can cause changes of pottery-type. Thirdly, on the condition of the basic sound chain of development of the Shang culture, it also need further study to demonstrate that it is necessary to distinguish the middle Shang Dynasty culture between the early Shang Dynasty culture and the late Shang Dynasty culture.The Huayuangzhuang Remains has strong similarities with the Yinxu culture, and the former is part of the latter. The era of the Huayuangzhuang Remains is about the period of the kingdom of Pangeng, Xiaoxin and Xiaoyi, which is equivalent to the first period of the Yinxu culture. Because of the discovery of the Huayuangzhuang Remains, as well as the newly discovered ruins such as Baijiazhuang relic and bronze caches, we believe that there are no missing links between the Erligang culture and the Yinxu culture. The sequence of the development of the Shang culture can be divided into eight series of interrelated stages, the Huayuangzhuang Remains and the first period of the Yinxu culture commonly forming the V stage.Taking into account that the literature recorded Pangeng for the beginning of the late Shang Dynasty, we insist on that the era before Pangeng is the early Shang Dynasty and the era of Pangeng and that after Pangeng are the late Shang Dynasty. From the archaeological cultural perspective, there are phase differences between the stage that is from I to IV and the stage from V to VIII, and the I to IV stage is the early Shang Dynasty culture and the V to VIII stage is the late Shang Dynasty culture, that is, the Erligang culture is the early culture, and the Yinxu culture is the lat culture.