slu2820213

Xia is the first prehistoric dynasty, from about the twenty-first to the sixteenth century B.C. Scientific excavations were made at early bronze-age sites at Anyang, Henan Province. In regard to the Xia, it was difficult to separate myth from reality. By now, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the existence of Xia civilization in the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts. At minimum, the Xia period marked an evolutionary stage between the late neolithic cultures and the typical Chinese urban civilization of the Shang dynasty.