Editing Shang dynasty (section)

=== Yellow River valley ===
[[File:Statuette of a Standing Dignitary, China, Shang dynasty, 12th-11th century BC, nephrite - Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University - DSC00742.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Shang [[nephrite]] statuette depicting a standing dignitary, dating between the 12th and 11th centuries&nbsp;BC, housed at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University]]
In 1899, several scholars noticed that Chinese pharmacists were selling "dragon bones" marked with curious and archaic characters.{{sfnp|Fairbank|Goldman|2006|p=33}} These were finally traced back in 1928 to what is now called [[Yinxu]], north of the [[Yellow River]] near [[Anyang]], where the [[Academia Sinica]] undertook archaeological excavation until the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] in 1937.{{sfnp|Fairbank|Goldman|2006|p=33}}
Archaeologists focused on the Yellow River valley in Henan as the most likely site of the states described in the traditional histories.

After 1950, the remnants of the earlier walled settlement of [[Zhengzhou Shang City]] were discovered within the modern city of [[Zhengzhou]].{{sfnp|Fairbank|Goldman|2006|p=33}}
It has been determined that the earth walls at Zhengzhou, erected in the 15th century&nbsp;BC, would have been {{cvt|20|m|ft}} wide at the base, rising to a height of {{cvt|8|m|ft}}, and formed a roughly rectangular wall {{cvt|7|km|mi|sigfig=1}} around the ancient city.{{sfnp|Fairbank|Goldman|2006|p=34}}{{sfnp|Needham|1971|p=43}} The rammed earth construction of these walls was an inherited tradition, since much older fortifications of this type have been found at Chinese [[Neolithic]] sites of the [[Longshan culture]] ({{circa|3000|2000&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}}.{{sfnp|Fairbank|Goldman|2006|p=34}}
In 2022, excavation of an elite tomb inside the city walls yielded over 200 artefacts, including a gold face covering measuring {{cvt|18.3|by|14.5|cm}}.<ref>{{citation |title=New archaeological discoveries provide insight into Yellow River origins of Chinese civilization |work=Global Times |editor-surname=Yi |editor-given=Yan |date=19 September 2022 |url=https://www.ecns.cn/news/culture/2022-09-19/detail-ihceauqk3927468.shtml |access-date=16 December 2023}}</ref>

In 1959, the site of the [[Erlitou culture]] was found in Yanshi, south of the Yellow River near [[Luoyang]].{{sfnp|Fairbank|Goldman|2006|p=34}} [[Radiocarbon dating]] suggests that the Erlitou culture flourished {{circa|2100&nbsp;BC|lk=no}} to 1800&nbsp;BC. They built large palaces, suggesting the existence of an organised state.{{sfnp|Fairbank|Goldman|2006|pp=34–35}}
In 1983, [[Yanshi Shang City]] was discovered {{cvt|6|km|mi}} north-east of the Erlitou site in Yanshi's Shixianggou Township. This was a large walled city dating from 1600&nbsp;BC. It had an area of nearly {{cvt|200|ha|acres}} and featured pottery characteristic of the [[Erligang culture]].

The remains of a walled city of about {{cvt|470|ha}} were discovered in 1999 across the [[Huan River]] from the well explored Yinxu site. The city, now known as [[Huanbei]], was apparently occupied for less than a century and destroyed shortly before the construction of the Yinxu complex.<ref>{{citation |surname=Harrington |given=Spencer P. M. |date=May–June 2000 |title=Shang City Uncovered |url=http://www.archaeology.org/0005/newsbriefs/shang.html |journal=Archaeology |publisher=Archaeological Institute of America |volume=53 |number=3}}</ref><ref>{{citation |surname1=Tang |given1=Jigen |surname2=Jing |given2=Zhichun |surname3=Liu |given3=Zhongfu |surname4=Yue |given4=Zhanwei |year=2004 |title=Survey and Test Excavation of the Huanbei Shang City in Anyang |url=http://www.kaogu.cn/en/Chinese%20Archaeology/4/Survey%20and%20Test%20Excavation%20of%20the%20Huanbei%20Shang%20City%20in%20Anyang.pdf |journal=Chinese Archaeology |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.1515/CHAR.2004.4.1.1}}</ref> Between 1989 and 2000, an important Shang settlement was excavated near [[Xiaoshuangqiao]], about {{cvt|20|km}} northwest of Zhengzhou. Covering an intermediary period between the Zhengzhou site and the late capitals on the [[Huan River]], it features most prominently sacrificial pits with articulated skeletons of cattle, a quintessential part of the late Shang ritual complex.

[[File:Shang dynasty jade deer.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.9|Jade deer dating to the Shang dynasty, in the collection of the Shanghai Museum]]
Chinese historians were accustomed to the notion of one dynasty succeeding another, and readily identified the Erligang and Erlitou sites with the early Shang and [[Xia dynasty]] of traditional histories. The actual political situation in early China may have been more complicated, with the Xia and Shang being political entities that existed concurrently, just as the early [[Zhou dynasty|Zhou]], who established the successor state of the Shang, are known to have existed at the same time as the Shang.{{sfnp|Sun|2006}} It has also been suggested the Xia legend originated as a Shang myth of an earlier people who were their opposites.{{sfnp|Allan|1991|p=63}}