Xia Shang Zhou Chronology Project

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The Xia Shang Zhou Chronology Project (Chinese: 夏商周断代工程; pinyin: Xìa Shāng Zhōu Duàndài Gōngchéng) was a multi-discipline project commissioned by the People's Republic of China in 1996 to determine with accuracy the location and time frame of the Xia Dynasty, the Shang Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty. Some 200 experts took part in the project, the results of which were released in November 2000.

1 Methodology
2 Controversy
3 Results
4 Notes
5 References

[edit] Methodology

The project correlated radiocarbon dating, archaeological dating methods, historical textual analysis, astronomy, and used other interdisciplinary methods to achieve more accurate temporal and geographic accuracy.

[edit] Controversy

There is some controversy over the results of the project. One of the criticisms is that the project supports the concept of a 6000-year, unbroken and homogenous history of China, wherein the Three Dynasties were large and powerful states--ignoring that many other groups of people existed throughout China and Central Asia during this period.^[1] Claims that this is a nationalistic pursuit have been levied based on statements such as those made by Song Jian who, in writing about the project, expressed embarrassment that the Egyptians had a detailed history going back nearly 5000 years and the Chinese, as a people, did not. It has also been argued that the astronomical bases of the project are ill-founded.^[2]

[edit] Results

All four phases of Erlitou culture were part of the Xia Dynasty.
The Western Zhou period was precisely dated.

[edit] Notes

^ Lee (2002).
^ Keenan (2002).

[edit] References

Douglas J. KEENAN, "Astro-historiographic chronologies of early China are unfounded", East Asian History 23 (2002): 61-68.
Yun Kuen LEE, "Building the chronology of early Chinese history", Asian Perspectives: the Journal of Archaeology for Asia and the Pacific 41.1 (2002): 15-42.