Shang

The first dynasty recorded historically, thought to have ruled from the mid-16th to mid-11th century BC (Some scholars date the Shang dynasty from the mid-18th to the late 12th century BC.). However, Shang as an archaeological term must be distinguished from Shang as a dynastic one. Earlier stages of the culture known from Anyang have been recognized at sites assigned to the Erligang Phase and, still earlier, the Erlitou phase. So far virtually no inscriptions have been found at these pre-Anyang sites; even if the date of the dynasty's founding were known it would be uncertain to what extent these archaeologically defined phases fall within the Shang period. Thus while the type site of the Erligang phase at Zhengzhou is generally assumed to have been a Shang capital, some archaeologists have argued that the Erlitou phase falls in the time of the Hsia dynasty, traditional predecessor of Shang. The archaeological classification of Middle Shang is represented by the remains found at Erligang (Erh-li-kang) (c 1600 BC) near Cheng-chou (Zhengzhou). The Shang replaced the Hsia (Zia) in c 1500 BC and was overthrown by the Chou in 1027 BC. The Shang dynasty belongs technically to the advanced Bronze Age - with that metal used for tools (socketed axes, knives, etc.), weapons (halberds, spears, and arrowheads) and for the highly ornamented and artistic ritual vessels. There was a fine white pottery and coarser grey wares, wheelmade and occasionally glazed, which clearly derive from the preceding Neolithic pottery. The period's claim to rank as a civilization is supported by the size and complexity of its cities and its use of writing. Two of its capitals have been identified, at modern Cheng-chou and Anyang, both in Honan province near the middle Yellow River. Rich cemeteries provide much of the evidence, particularly the royal tombs at Anyang. Building was mainly in timber on rammed earth foundations; city walls were also of rammed earth. Burial was by inhumation in pit graves with the skeletons extended, some face down. The pictographic writing appears as occasional inscriptions on the bronzes, much more commonly on the enormous number of oracle bones. The Shang was the second of the Chinese dynasties in the Protohistoric Sandai period.

[Shang]. The Shang or Yin dynasty, the first great Bronze Age power in China, ruled the North China plain during the latter half of the 2nd millennium bc. Of the dynasties named in Chinese historical works it is the earliest whose existence has been confirmed by archaeology (see oracle bones). The exact dates of the dynasty are uncertain; the various rival chronologies are all based on figures transmitted in historical texts, which cease to conflict only in the Zhou dynasty at the year 841 bc. Dates proposed for the fall of Shang (the Zhou conquest) vary within limits of about a century; the traditional date of 1122 bc is regarded as too high by many Western scholars, who favour a short chronology that sets the end of the dynasty around 1030 bc. Figures for the beginning of Shang diverge more widely (1766 bc, 1523 bc etc). The historicity of the Shang dynasty was established by the inscribed oracle bones discovered around 1900 at the site of its last capital, near modern Anyang. According to later texts this capital was occupied for 273 years, a time known as the historical Anyang period (cl300-cl030 bc on the short chronology). Earlier stages of the culture known from Anyang have been recognized at sites assigned to the Erligang phase and, still earlier, the Erlitou phase (see also Gaocheng). So far virtually no inscriptions have been found at these pre-Anyang sites; since the few available radiocarbon dates have large error margins, even if the date of the dynasty’s founding were known it would be uncertain to what extent these archaeologically defined phases fall within the Shang period. Thus while the type site of the Erligang phase at Zhengzhou is generally assumed to have been a Shang capital, some archaeologists have argued that the Erlitou phase falls in the time of the Xia dynasty, traditional predecessor of