Erlitou, once an obscure village located about 9 kilometers southwest of Yanshi in Luoyang, Henan Province, China, came to prominence in 1959 when archaeologists unearthed a significant urban site marking the dawn of the Chinese Dynasties. This discovery unveiled a glorious chapter in the history of the Chinese nation over 3,000 years ago, and firmly placed the Erlitou Culture in the annals of Chinese civilization and the broader narrative of world civilizations.

The first capital of Huaxia

Located in the heartland of the Central Plains of China, the Erlitou site covers an area of about 3 million square meters, with its actual extent even larger. Over half a century of meticulous fieldwork has revealed the earliest urban road network in China, the earliest palace city, a palace complex with a central axis layout, an enclosed government-run industrial workshop area, and groups of bronze ritual and musical instruments, weapons, bronze casting workshops, and turquoise workshops. It also uncovered the earliest evidence of two-wheeled carts. At the time, the scale of these excavations was unparalleled on the East Asian continent, establishing Erlitou as the earliest large-scale city in China and East Asia with clear urban planning.

The Mangshan Mountains to the north and the Songshan Mountains to the south flank the Erlitou site, which is nestled in the eastern part of the Luoyang Basin in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, while the ancient Yiluo River flows along its southern side. The Luoyang Basin, with its rich water resources, fertile soil, and natural defenses, has historically been considered the "center of the world (state)." It has always been a strategically vital area, favored by emperors for establishing their capitals. Over the course of Chinese history, 13 dynasties chose to establish their capitals in the Luoyang Basin, leaving behind five major urban sites: Erlitou, the Eastern Zhou Royal City, Yanshi Shang City, the Han-Wei Luoyang City, and the Sui-Tang Luoyang City. Thus, we celebrate the Erlitou site as the "First Capital of Huaxia (Huaxia is a term for the early stage of the Chinese nation)," the earliest of these royal capitals.

The Erlitou Culture (1800–1500 BC), named after this site, encompassed both the inner and outer regions of the kingdom. The inner region referred to the central area of the Erlitou Culture, located around the north and south of the Songshan Mountains, and was believed to be under the direct control of the dynasty. The dynasty indirectly controlled the outer region. Scholars estimate that the population of Erlitou at its peak exceeded 20,000, a stark contrast to large prehistoric settlements, which typically did not exceed 5,000 inhabitants, and contemporary ordinary settlements, which generally did not exceed 1,000. Such a high population concentration in the central settlement (capital) and nearby areas was unprecedented in East Asia.

The bronze ritual and music civilization

The Erlitou site has yielded a significant collection of bronze ritual vessels, musical instruments, ceremonial bronze weapons, and traditional jade artifacts, all of which together form a distinctive Chinese bronze ritual and music civilization. These bronze vessels, exclusively found in the tombs of the upper echelons of Erlitou's urban society, symbolized the identity and status of the ruling elite within the hierarchical structure.

In the later stages of the Erlitou Culture, bronze wine vessels began to appear. Initially modeled after pottery, the earliest vessels were small wine containers called jue ("爵" in Chinese). Later, wine warmers and other vessels were developed. Notably, the term "jue" appears in noble titles from the Zhou Dynasty, such as "duke" ("公爵" pronounced as gongjue) and "earl" ("伯爵" pronounced as bojue), highlighting the importance of wine in the dynastic rituals. The development of drinking rituals during the Erlitou period was groundbreaking. The production of bronze jue and other intricately shaped wine vessels required the sophisticated use of composite mold technology, which involved the precise combination of an inner mold and several outer molds.

The bronze weapons found at Erlitou include daggers ("戈"pronounced as ge), battle axes ("钺"pronounced as yue), axes, and arrowheads ("镞" pronounced as zu). These were called ritual weapons because they served as ceremonial tools, symbolizing authority, rather than for use in combat. They are the earliest known bronze ritual weapons in China. Among these, the bronze yue-battle axes stands out as the earliest known example in China, evolving from its predecessor, the stone yue-battle axes, which initially served as a tool before becoming a symbol of military authority and royal power.

In addition, the site has unearthed an abundance of jade ritual artifacts, some of which are culturally classified as "jade" despite being made of stone. These artifacts fall into two main categories: large bladed implements such as jade yue-battle axes, jade knives, jade zhang blade ("玉璋"), jade gui ("玉圭", jade spades), and jade ge-daggers; and small rod-shaped implements. During the third phase of the Erlitou, the nobility primarily used the large, bladed jade artifacts as jade gui or tablets to signify their authority and the hierarchical relationship between the ruler and his ministers. The simultaneous emergence of these jade artifacts in the palace city and the large palace complex at Erlitou indicates that royal power and the court rituals designed to maintain it were already well established.

China's earliest "Core Culture"

In the annals of early Chinese civilization, the Longshan Era (2500–2000 BC) stands as a testament to cultural plurality, where myriad local cultures flourished like "a sky full of stars." Each culture possessed its own distinct characteristics, but none had emerged as a unifying force in terms of social complexity and organizational structures. Around 2500 BC, however, this multi centric cultural landscape began to undergo a profound transform.

The emergence of the Erlitou Culture marked the beginning of the first widely influential "Core Culture" in Chinese history. Distinguished by its unique material culture, advanced bronze casting technology, and large-scale urban construction, the Erlitou Culture quickly rose to a preeminent position and became the model that various groups in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers aspired to emulate. The Erlitou Culture demonstrated remarkable advances not only in technology, economy, and social organization, but also in political integration and cultural influence, facilitating extensive exchange and integration among diverse cultures.

The formation of this "Core Culture" was far from accidental; it was the result of long-term accumulation and development within the Central Plains region. Between 3000 BC and 2500 BC, the Central Plains exhibited an increasing trend toward centralization in social structure, agricultural technology, and bronze production. By the Erlitou Era, this trend had reached its zenith, establishing a powerful symbol of central authority and laying a solid foundation for the subsequent Shang and Zhou civilizations.

In addition, the Erlitou Culture not only exemplified a high degree of material social integration, but also forged the core characteristics of the Huaxia civilization on the spiritual and cultural levels, such as the ritual system and musical arts. These elements became integral to the later Chinese "ritual and music culture," forming the enduring legacy of Chinese civilization.

Embracing and integrating cultures

In the Erlitou Era, the East Asian continent was a mosaic of distinct archaeological cultures, each interacting to varying degrees with the burgeoning Erlitou Culture.

Among the artifacts of the Erlitou Culture are impressed hard ware and primitive porcelain objects, such as the long-spouted, flat-bottomed ancient wine vessel ("盉" pronounced as he). Scholars suggest a southern origin for these objects and their making techniques, linking them to the impressed pottery of Fujian and Zhejiang. The cloud and thunder patterns on fine pottery, durable pottery, and primitive porcelain, along with other cultural motifs, probably reflect southern influences.

In the Yangshao and Longshan periods, the cultures of the Northwest generally lagged behind those of the Central Plains. However, the Northwest made remarkable progress in metallurgy. Archaeologists suggest that cultural exchanges with Central Asia influenced the advanced early copper metallurgy of northwestern China. Some artifacts unearthed at the Erlitou site bear distinct characteristics of the contemporary Qijia Culture of the northwest. It is conceivable that as the Erlitou Culture expanded westward and encountered the Qijia Culture, it absorbed significant cultural elements from the latter.

The origins of Erlitou's ceramic ritual vessels, such as the he- wine-vessel and jue- wine-containers used for drinking rituals can be traced back to prototypes from the Dawenkou-Longshan Culture. There are many differences between traditional Erlitou artifacts and these grit-tempered brown pottery pieces with comb-like scraping marks and double-holed crescent-shaped stone knives. These objects are similar to those of the Yueshi Culture in the Haidai region, located between the Bohai Sea and Mount Tai in Shandong Province. The pressed floral decorations on the rims of jars found in the Erlitou site are also common in the contemporaneous Zhukaigou Culture (in the central-southern region of present-day Inner Mongolia). Furthermore, the Erlitou pottery assemblage includes elements from the cultures of northern Henan and southern Hebei, as well as traces of the cooking vessels buried as grave goods, which is biedang li ("瘪裆鬲") of the Guanzhong region.

The jade bird-shaped ornaments unearthed from the aristocratic tombs at the Erlitou site bear striking similarities to artifacts from Longshan-era tombs at Wadian in Yuzhou, situated southeast of Songshan Mountain. These ornaments also bear a resemblance to eagle-patterned jade hairpins from the Shijiahe cultural system in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Some scholars suggest that the Yangtze River basin may have been the source of these jade bird-shaped ornaments and some jade-handle artifacts from the elite tombs of Erlitou.

Ancient texts, such as the Book of Documents (Shangshu) and bronze inscriptions, have led scholars to categorize the major transportation routes linking the Central Plains capital with the Yangtze River region into eastern, western, and central routes. Sites along the central and western routes reveal artifacts with Erlitou cultural influence or affiliation, showing a mixture of southern and northern elements. This evidence indicates that these transportation routes were active in the Erlitou period.

Seashells are another category of valuables, probably from the Northwest. These shells, primarily used as burial goods for the aristocracy of Erlitou, often featured perforations for stringing on silk threads as neck or chest ornaments. The number of seashells used corresponded to the status of the deceased. Initially, researchers believed that China's coastal regions were the source of these shells. Recent studies, however, show that these shells are tropical species from the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, regions that are not part of the coastal areas north of the ancient East China Sea.

Powerful influence

The influence of the Erlitou Culture went far beyond mere regional interactions and extended in many directions. For example, the ceramic wine vessels, such as he and jue, and major ritual artifacts of the Erlitou Culture traveled extensively from their origins in the Central Plains. Researchers have discovered these artifacts as far north as the Xiajiadian Culture near the Yanshan Mountains, as far south as the Yangtze River basin from Zhejiang to Sichuan, and as far west as the upper Yellow River region in Gansu and Qinghai.

Interestingly, the distribution density of these ritual vessels does not decrease with distance from the Central Plains, as scholars have pointed out. Rather, they are often found on periphery of the Erlitou cultural area, far from its core. This pattern, which differs from that of everyday pottery, suggests that these ritual vessels served as links between central and distant regional elites, transcending spatial distances to become symbols shared by social elites.

It is crucial to recognize that the interactions between the Erlitou and other cultures were largely asymmetrical, with the Erlitou Culture exerting a dominant influence. Throughout this process, the Erlitou Culture, while evolving internally, continuously projected its influence outward, transcending natural geographic barriers and shaping a trans-regional cultural landscape.

This transformation of the Huaxia state from a diverse mosaic into a more cohesive entity laid the foundation for the early formation of what would later be known as "China."

The author is Xu Hong, researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Liu Xian /Editor    Deng Zhiyu /Translator

Yang Xinhua /Chief Editor    Liu Xian /Coordination Editor

Liu Li /Reviewer

Zhang Weiwei /Copyeditor    Tan Yujie /Image Editor

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