The transition from copper to bronze was a major technological advance. In China, the Bronze Age began about 2000 BCE and lasted until the beginning of the Iron Age about 750 BCE. Chinese bronze is an alloy of copper mixed with small amounts of tin and lead. With bronze, the Chinese were able to produce weapons on a massive scale and ritual vessels which were used by the ruling class.
Xia Dynasty:
According to the oral traditions and the early historic writings, Yu the Great was the legendary founder of the Xia dynasty. He tamed the rivers through flood control and irrigation. For some modern scholars, particularly those from outside of China, the Xia dynasty seemed to be more legend than reality, thus many accounts of the Chinese Bronze Age begin with the Shang dynasty. Recent archaeological discoveries, however, are showing that the legendary Xia dynasty, or at least a Xia people with a political entity (dynasty, state, or chiefdom), was real and that it preceded the Shang dynasty.
Discovered in 1959, Erlitou (二里頭村) is a Bronze Age Xia site which was occupied by 1800 BCE. The first known bronze vessels in China are found at this site near the middle reaches of the Yellow River in northern central China. These bronze vessels were made by heating the bronze to a liquid state and then pouring it into clay molds which formed the different sections of the finished object. Erlitou seems to have monopolized the production of ritual bronze vessels at this time. These bronze vessels were made expressly for the ritual consumption of a rice and/or white grape wine.
Erlitou appears to have been established by a new group of people who arrived in the area. A much earlier Neolithic settlement (Longshan culture) at Erlitou had been abandoned about six centuries earlier. The site shows rapid expansion during Phase I, an indication of migration from surrounding areas, and artifacts from this early phase include many elite items such as white pottery, ivory and turquoise artifacts, and bronze tools.
Erlitou was a planned city with specialized buildings, a ceremonial area, workshops, and a central palatial complex. It was the largest community in China by 2000 BCE. While Erlitou was an urban center, it was not walled. However, the palaces in the center of the site were walled. The palatial complex, which eventually came to hold 8 to 11 palaces, was walled by two meter thick rammed earth walls. Not all of the palaces were occupied at the same time: over time, some of the palaces were abandoned and replaced by others. The palaces at Erlitou were built on platforms, the largest of which was 150 meters by 50 meters.
Elite burials were placed within the palace courtyards and burials were accompanied by grave goods such as bronzes, jades, turquoise, and lacquer wares. At the tombs in the courtyard of Palace 3, the burial goods included white pottery in the shape of a wide-brimmed bamboo hat, a jade ornament in the shape of a bird’s head, and a large vessel inlayed with turquoise.
The site does not appear to have had a cemetery precinct, but tombs were scattered throughout the site. Tombs have been found near or underneath ordinary residential houses, and under roads. This burial pattern is very different from the burial patterns of the earlier Chinese Neolithic and the later Shang Dynasty. Some archaeologists feel that the lack of a formal burial area is an indication that the first migrants came from many different small kin groups. Some have suggested that the lack of a formal burial area indicates that the population tended to move frequently.
Erlitou had a planned grid system of roads. Archaeologists have uncovered an intact section of parallel wagon tracks which provide the earliest known evidence of wagons in China. It is unclear if the wagons were pulled by animals or humans. The distance between the wheel tracks is only one meter, suggesting that the Erlitou vehicles were much smaller than the later Shang Dynasty chariots unearthed at Anyang.
At Erlitou archaeologists found evidence of specialized workshops for the production of pottery, turquoise, bronze items, stone tools. In addition, there were rich burials with items of jade, silver, and gold. The site also included a bronze casting foundry.
Erlitou’s power seems to have collapsed by about 1600 BCE. At about the same time, a new walled town, Yanshi, was built about 6 kilometers away. There was no destruction of Erlitou, but Yanshi seems to replace Erlitou as a population center and a power center.
Shang Dynasty:
As Erlitou was being abandoned, the Shang Dynasty (商朝; 1600 to 1046 BCE) was emerging. During this period, casting bronze artifacts reached new heights. The Shang Dynasty kings ruled over much of northern China. Shang was a territorial state, not a city state. One of the characteristics of territorial states is the movement of capitals. During this era, the capital moved among several different sites, with Zhengzhou and Anyang being two of the important sites.
A map of the Shang Dynasty territory is shown above.
Shang Dynasty bronzes are shown above.
A bronze ax head from the Shang Dynasty is shown above.
One of the characteristics of the Shang Dynasty is the change in the animals used in sacrificial activities. During this dynasty, the sacrifice of horses and sheep becomes more common. Archaeologists feel that animal sacrifice was an important aspect of the process by which elite power was established and maintained.
About 1650 BCE, the site of Erligang was established near Yanshi. This was a large site with an immense walled area that seemed to house the elite. Then there was a large area that housed commoners around the elite area. These are sometimes called urban clusters. The clusters may have been occupied by different ethnic groups.
The enclosed area enclosed by the wall around Erligang encompassed about 800 acres. The wall was 30 feet high and 20 feet wide and was made out of pounded earth. This was a massive undertaking which required many person-days of coordinated labor. Erligang was inhabited until about 1400 BCE.
Yinxu (1400-1046 BCE) had a burial complex with 13 royal burials. Each of the royal tombs would have taken 7,000 working days to dig. Human sacrifices are commonly associated with the elite tombs.
In 1976, archaeologists discovered the intact grave of Fu Hao (妇好), a consort of the Shang King Wu Ding and a military general. Fu Hao was buried at Anyang about 1200 BCE. Her tomb was of moderate size and contained 16 human skeletons, many of which were probably sacrificial victims. With regard to grave goods, the grave contained ivory goblets, several hundred jades, and more than 200 ritual bronze vessels. The total weight of the bronzes was 1.6 metric tons, which is an indication of the enormous wealth held by the elite. Additional wealth is shown in the 6,900 cowry shells—a form of Shang Dynasty currency—which were also buried with her. The skill of the Shang Dynasty bronze artisans can be seen in a wine container in the shape of a horned owl. Testimony to her status as a military general is seen in the 130 bronze weapons found in the tomb. While most of the bronze objects in the grave were everyday objects, some of them were probably made specifically to accompany Fu Hao in her tomb. The inscriptions in these special objects show that they were intended for ritual offerings of food and wine to the spirit of the ancestors.
The tomb of Fu Hao is shown above.
At Sanxingdui, a site in southwestern China on a tributary of the Yangzi, archaeologists uncovered two large pits filled with 60 elephant tusks, more than 50 life-size bronze heads, 20 bronze masks, gold and silver objects, ritual vessels, and the first and only life-size figure from Bronze Age China. The site appears to be contemporary with the tomb of Fu Hao. The pits were not graves: they contained no human skeletons. The objects in the pits, which had been burned before burial, may have been offerings to deities or to ancestral spirits. The full-sized human sculpture may have been a substitute for a human sacrifice. The bronze heads may have been the images of local spirits or deities which were buried to prevent the sacred items from falling into the hands of invaders.
Shang Dynasty white pottery is shown above.
Zhou Dynasty:
The last of the Chinese Bronze Age Dynasties, the Zhou (周朝), overthrew the Shang Dynasty about 1050 BCE. The Zhou accused the Shang of overindulgence in alcohol. During this dynasty most of the bronze vessels found in the tombs were for preparing or serving food rather than wine. It was also during this dynasty that iron began to emerge and eventually became the dominant metal.
Zhou Dynasty bronzes are shown above.
The Zhou Dynasty is often considered to be a feudal period. When the dynasty was established, the conquered land was divided into hereditary fiefs. These fiefs eventually became powerful in their own right and subsequently the fiefs themselves tended to become feudally subdivided. At times, a vigorous duke would take power from his nobles and centralize the state. Centralization became more necessary as the states began to war among themselves and centralization encouraged more war. If a duke took power from his nobles, the state would have to be administered bureaucratically by appointed officials.
