Artifacts

The Possible Remains and Artifacts of the Xia Dynasty

Erlitou, an ancient site discovered by anthropologist, suggests the likely hood of the existence of a dynasty before the Shang. On this site, artifacts dating to an era during the bronze age, suggest that this might be the center of the Xia Dynasty.



Items discovered on the site include bronze age artifacts and even elaborate architectural sites.Like many other archeological objects found many came in the form of utensils and pottery, some surrounding in areas such as grave sites (6).



A form of pottery dating to the bronze age and probably from the Xia Dynasty this could have had many uses but was probably used as a drinking vessel.

This is a wine utensil use by people of the late Xia Dynasty.

This is a dagger from the Erlitou site. The Xia Dynasty dated to around the same time as the Bronze Age, therefore, this metallic item is interesting because it is a representation of the ingenuity of that era. In addition, because this dagger was found at the Erilitou site it suggest that the site dates to around the time of the Bronze age. Therefore it is likely that the site is the home of the Xia Dynasty according to timing.



Discovered among these artifacts were the of palaces suggesting the possibility of this area being part of a kingdom of sorts. This adds further evidence to the possibility of this site being the home of the Xia Dynasty. In the image above, the ground work of the civilization that existed there is visible. Among the ground there are artifacts and the foundations of palaces that are no longer standing.

This is an artist rendition of the site of the Erlitou. As can be seen in the picture, the village, which dates to the propose time of the Xia Dynasty and the Bronze Age, was elaborately build and large enough to hold a number of people. However, it was not large enough to hold too many people like sites of the Mayan People, the Aztecs, or of a whole civilization, which could have coped with the impending needs of civilization including population growth and manageable trade and use of resources (3, 7). Perhaps this suggest that the Xia Dynasty was relatively small, and this would explain why little is known about the Xia Dynasty today. However, the level of importance placed in building the site at Erlitou seems to suggest that it had a strong political standing, much like a kingdom and is probably part of a Dynastic power. Therefore, whatever civilization that existed there could have been the civilization that the Shang Dynasty referred to as the Xia Dynasty.



These are further artifacts discovered around the same period around China. They tell about a civilization that started to progress through time. This possibly provides evidence that a link between the Xia Dynasty existed, because all works by the early and later groups were similar and carried on throughout the ages. Therefore, cultural learning's,intermingling, and styles were similar, and the culture that existed between the Bronze Age and the later ages were the same and progress in a linear fashion. These Images above show a plague made of Bronze from around 2500 BCE discovered at Erlitou and maybe from the early Xia Dynasty, and a Sculpture dating to sometime later, during the proposed late Xia Dynasty, and the last Sculpture on the right of a Dragon is from a later period dating to around the time of the Shang Dynasty. As is visible the styles and material were all similar. They have similar inscriptions and similar etchings such as the swirls in etched on the surface and body of the material. In addition through time they became weaponry similar to the dagger in the shown above that later evolved to a more robust and broader range of weaponry and the development of different ways of using them and constructing them, though the art styling seemed to have remained.

However, these discoveries, although provide evidence of a civilization existing before the Shang Dynasty, that is likely connected to other civilization that came after it, it does not elaborate that this civilization indeed was the Xia Dynasty. There is no evidence that the site of Erlitou any object found there pointed to any of the information known about the Xia Dynasty, including it's emperors such as Yu The Great. Further suggesting and providing possible evidence that the Xia culture and its history may just be a myth as suspected by some anthropologist. For example, the size of some settlements such as Erlitou may indicate that the they were early settlements of the people that roam around China and may be the home of people's before they formed larger social structures that eventually became the Xia Dynasty. This may suggest that all the existing artifacts found there may be the workings of early groups of people in China such as clnas that existed before the Shang Dynasty and not be a representation of the actual Xia Dynasty. However, the elaborateness and the grand scale of the social and political structure found in the site, such as the building of palaces and structures of hierarchies that this might represent might suggest otherwise.

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