Part of the newly discovered rammed-earth wall near the Erlitou Site Photo: Henan Daily

 

Chinese archaeologists have made a significant breakthrough in the exploration of the culture of the Xia Dynasty (c.2070BC-c.1600BC) with the discovery of a rammed-earth wall suspected to be the city wall of the capital of the late Xia period, near the Erlitou site in Luoyang, Central China's Henan Province, according to the Xinhua News Agency on Thursday.

"This new discovery further expands the borders of the Erlitou Site, providing clues for exploring the overall layout of the city at Erlitou as well as suggesting that it could possibly be the largest capital site of its kind discovered in the world," Wang Wei, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the head of the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, told the Global Times.

The Erlitou relics date back to 3,500 to 3,800 years ago in ancient China's late Xia or early Shang (c.1600BC-1046BC) dynasties.

Since the excavation of the ancient site across the Luo River from the Erlitou Site began in 2021, three ditches (G1, G2, G3) and one rammed-earth wall from the Erlitou culture period have been discovered. The G2 and G3 moats, along with the rammed-earth wall run roughly parallel in the eastern and northern parts of the site. The excavated portions of these structures, forming an L-shape, extend over 1,800 meters in a southwest-northeast direction and 300 meters north-south. 

"The alignment of G2, G3 and the wall match with the main roads, walls, and rammed-earth buildings at the Erlitou Site, which suggests they may be part of the outer defenses of the city, encircling it from the east and the north," Zhao Haitao, head of the Erlitou Site excavation team at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), told the Global Times on Thursday.

In addition to the rammed-earth wall, a new building foundation labeled No.17 was uncovered in the palace area of the Erlitou Site. Situated between previously discovered palaces No.1 and No.5, this foundation includes two rows of buildings, built atop rammed-earth platforms. The northern structure with five rooms stretches over 40 meters east to west and covers approximately 310 square meters. 

"The discovery of the new palace foundation located at the center of the city further illustrates that the concept of 'building palaces along the central axis' already emerged during the late Xia Dynasty. This characteristic was later carried through to the Forbidden City of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties," Wang said.

Not far from the palace area, the site's western and southern roads form an intersection, dividing the area into four sections. In 2024, the northeast corner of one of the sectors' surrounding walls was uncovered, providing the first complete view of the interlocking walls at the crossroads. 

According to Xinhua, in 1959, renowned historian and archaeologist Xu Xusheng found the Erlitou Site, which marked the beginning of China's Xia culture exploration. Zhao noted in a previous interview with Xinhua that studying Xia culture is crucial to understanding the origins of Chinese civilization and shedding light on key questions about where and how China's ancient civilization developed.

Beyond the Erlitou Site, other significant archaeological discoveries were also unveiled at the Archaeological China program conference hosted by the National Cultural Heritage Administration on Thursday, shedding light on the exploration of Chinese civilization. 

Notably, new findings were reported at the Yin Ruins in Anyang, Central China's Henan Province, which date back to the late Shang Dynasty (c.1600BC-1046BC) and have yielded evidence of a sophisticated urban grid. The ruins include a 1.6-kilometer-long roadway with clear wheel ruts, providing further insight into the structure of China's first historically recorded capital.

Niu Shishan, a research fellow from the Institute of Archaeology at the CASS told the Global Times that significant progress has been made in the archaeological work on the north bank of the Huan River in 2024. This represents a new breakthrough in the study of the planning and layout of the great ancient capital city of Shang Dynasty. It also provides new material for the construction of the Yin Ruins National Archaeological Site Park.

Meanwhile, at the Sanxingdui Site in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, 4,062 precious artifacts, including bronze masks and bird-shaped ornaments, have been successfully restored. These finds suggest that there was rich cultural exchange between the Sanxingdui civilization and other regions of ancient China.

In North China's Shanxi Province, at the Zhongcun cemetery, 13 tombs dating from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou (1046BC-771BC) dynasties have been uncovered, including five high-status tombs from the late Xia-Shang period. The cemetery, covering an area of 2,000 square meters, is the largest and most significant one discovered in the eastern Loess Plateau, offering valuable insight into the burial practices and cultural interactions during the transition from the Xia to the Shang dynasty.

Wang noted that both the Erlitou Site and the Yin Ruins were capitals of the Xia and Shang dynasties respectively, during which the layout of the palace city was of utmost importance. The new discoveries at both sites have further deepened our understanding of the layout and scale of these ancient capitals.

Starting from the Xia Dynasty, the dynasties in the Central Plains became the leaders of Chinese civilization's overall development. 

"The SanxingduiSite and Zhongcun cemetery, belonging to regional states, or fangguo, during the Xia, Shang, and Zhou periods, show clear influences from the Central Plains dynasties. The newly discovered jade workshops and the tombs of regional states leaders further validate the integrated and diverse structure of Chinese civilization, both in terms of tools and craftsmanship," Wang said.