Erlitou

Erlitou, also called Yanshi Erlitou, is an archaeological site in the Yiluo Basin of Yanshi District, Luoyang, in Henan, China. Survey teams led by the archaeologist Xu Xusheng found it in 1959. It is the type site and largest settlement of the Erlitou culture, a centre of the early Bronze Age in China, and some Chinese archaeologists have identified it with the capital of the Xia, a dynasty whose existence is debated. After a Neolithic occupation from about 3500 to 2600 BCE and centuries of vacancy, a settlement grew from about 1860 BCE and at its peak held around 24,000 people over some 300 hectares. A palatial complex inside rammed earth walls stood at its centre, and the city pioneered piece-mold bronze casting and made ritual bronze vessels, turquoise-inlaid plaques and jade goods. It also holds the earliest known road network in China, with wagon tracks. The site was declared a national priority protected site in 1988 and a national archaeological park in 2022, and a site museum opened in 2019.