Chinese Culture >> Chinese Dynasty >> Xia Dynasty
Xia Dynasty Background (Year: c.2000 - c.1700 BC)
Not much is known about this first Chinese dynasty -- in
fact, it until fairly recently, most historians. thought that it was a myth.
Until scientific excavations were made at early bronze-age sites at Anyang,
Henan Province, in 1928, it was difficult to separate myth from reality in
regard to the Xia.
But since then, and especially in the 1960s and 1970s, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the existence of Xia civilization in the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts.
AdvertisementWhat little is known indicates that the Xia had descended from a wide-spread Yellow River valley Neolithic culture known as the Longshan culture, famous for their black-lacquered pottery. Even though no known examples of Xia-era writing survive, they almost certainly had a writing system that was a precursor of the Shang dynasty's "oracle bones."
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