Erlitou
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Pronunciation: ěrʹlēʹtōʹ
Forms: form: Erh-li-t'ou
form: Erhlitou
Etymology: From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 二里頭 (Èrlǐtóu, literally “two Li head”).
Senses: examples: text: Of the other Honan sites reported since 1954 which have been assigned to the Erh-li-t'ou culture, none are as rich as Erh-li-t'ou itself.
ref: [1979, Katheryn McAllister Linduff, “Local Styles”, in Tradition, Phase and Style of Shang and Chou Bronze Vessels, Garland Publishing, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 111:
text: At present the direct antecedents of the sophisticated cast vessels from Erlitou-period tombs excavated at Yanshi near Luoyang remain undiscovered.
ref: 1987, Jessica Rawson, “Introduction”, in Chinese Bronzes: Art and Ritual, British Museum Publications, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 9:
text: Not so very long ago, the Xia and the Shang, legendary dynasties of the distant past, were regarded by most scholars as pleasing, misty fantasies, as sweetly insubstantial as Camelot or Shangri-La. Not anymore. A small turquoise plaque made 3,800 years ago by the culture known as Erlitou is now thought to be a Xia piece.
ref: 1999 September 17, Paul Richard, “China's Timeless Treasures”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 Oct 2023:
text: Dr. Wu’s team said its reconstruction of the outburst flood from the Jishi Gorge showed that the ancient textual accounts of the Great Flood “may well be rooted in a historic natural event.” The finding also supports the idea, the researchers say, that archaeological remains found at Erlitou, a site about 1,550 miles downstream from the gorge, may have been the Xia capital, given that the Erlitou culture dates to 1900 B.C., the same time as the Jishi Gorge flood.
ref: 2016 August 4, Nicholas Wade, “Scientific Evidence of Flood May Give Credence to Legend of China’s First Dynasty”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Aug 2016:
glosses: A Bronze Age culture along the Yellow River in China
examples: text: Continued excavation at the Shang dynasty site at Erlitou in Yenshih county, Honan province, has yielded more finds of importance.
ref: 1975 November, Nai Hsia, “The Slaves Were the Makers of History—New archaeological finds on ancient Chinese slave society”, in China Reconstructs, volume XXIV, number 11, China Welfare Institute, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 40, column 2:
text: Most Chinese archaeologists believe that a site called Erlitou near Luoyang was for a time a Xia capital. If one takes the traditional commentaries and texts seriously, Erlitou was certainly at the right place and the right time to be a Xia capital.
ref: 2006, Robert L. Thorp, Visiting China's Past: A Guide to Sites and Resources, →ISBN, →OCLC, pages 67–68:
text: Dr. Wu’s team said its reconstruction of the outburst flood from the Jishi Gorge showed that the ancient textual accounts of the Great Flood “may well be rooted in a historic natural event.” The finding also supports the idea, the researchers say, that archaeological remains found at Erlitou, a site about 1,550 miles downstream from the gorge, may have been the Xia capital, given that the Erlitou culture dates to 1900 B.C., the same time as the Jishi Gorge flood.
ref: 2016 August 4, Nicholas Wade, “Scientific Evidence of Flood May Give Credence to Legend of China’s First Dynasty”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Aug 2016:
text: The excavation of a 2,000-year-old palace in the village of Erlitou, Yanshi county – which has since been recovered as farmland – led to the site being identified as Zhengxun, the last capital of the Xia, by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This sparked both excitement and scepticism throughout the academic world.
ref: 2017 July 14, Thomas Bird, “The rise and fall of Luoyang, China’s forgotten capital”, in South China Morning Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 Jul 2017, Long Reads:
glosses: A village in Yanshi district, Luoyang, Henan, China.