The Erlitou culture (simplified Chinese: 二里头文化; traditional Chinese: 二里頭文化; pinyin: èrlǐtóu wénhuà) is a name given by archaeologists to an Early Bronze Age urban society that existed in China from 1880 BCE to 1520 BCE. The culture was named after the site discovered at Erlitou (二里頭村) in Yanshi, Henan Province. The culture was widely spread throughout Henan and Shanxi Province, and later appeared in Shaanxi and Hubei provinces. Most Chinese archaeologists identify the Erlitou culture as the site of the Xia Dynasty, while most Western archaeologists remain unconvinced of the connection between the Erlitou culture and the Xia Dynasty since there are no extant written records linking Erlitou with the traditional history.
Read more about Erlitou Culture: Erlitou Site, Interpretation in Terms of Traditional History
Famous quotes containing the word culture:
“... there are some who, believing that all is for the best in the best of possible worlds, and that to-morrow is necessarily better than to-day, may think that if culture is a good thing we shall infallibly be found to have more of it that we had a generation since; and that if we can be shown not to have more of it, it can be shown not to be worth seeking.”
—Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)