The Bo Capital and Questions Concerning Xia and Early Shang

Abstract

The question whether the Xia and the Shang signify a relatively homogeneous culture or relatively distinct cultures is approached through efforts both to determine whether the late Erlitou culture dates to the final years of dynastic Xia or to the beginning of Shang and to identify, in turn, those early Bronze Age sites most likely to correspond to the first recorded Shang capitals. By contrasting traditional chronologies with the developmental sequences of artifacts, the author reaches the conclusion that the Bronze Age remains at Erlitou represent the late Xia culture and the discoveries at Zhengzhou, the period of the Bo capital. A close affiliation between the Shang and the Xia rulers in the time prior to the conquest, revealed by the Bamboo Annals, is shown to be consistent with the archaeological evidence which Indicates that the transition between the two dynastic periods was characterized primarily by continuous development, rather than by disruption or radical change. The proposal is also made that the most significant influence from the eastcoast cultures upon those of the Zhong Yuan may have occurred during Xia times, instead of during Shang.