Xia Shang Zhou Chronology Project

The Xia Shang Zhou Chronology Project (simplified 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.

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.

Controversies

There is some controversy over the results of the project. One of the criticisms is that the project supports the concept of a 5000-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]

Technical controversies involve the following matters.

• First, the archaeological boundaries between Xia and Shang and between Shang and Zhou have been strongly disputed (partly due to the methods adopted for radiocarbon-dating).^{[citation needed]}
• Second, the radiocarbon dates were generally specified with only 68%-confidence intervals (or worse), instead of the standard 95%-confidence intervals; this makes the date ranges narrower than they properly should be.^[2]
• Third, it has also been argued that the astronomical/literature bases of the project are ill-founded.^[3] This was partly caused by persistent doubts in the reliability of the historical records used for the deduction, partly caused by dubious, inaccurate astronomical calculations, and partly caused by selective use of the presumed historical record (which, if used in its entirety, might have no solution at all).
• Fourth, numerous unjustified changes have been introduced into the bronze vessel inscriptions, which affect the entire chronology.^{[citation needed]}
• Finally, lack of understanding on the ancient calendar further complicated the matter.

Claimed Results

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

Notes

References

1. Douglas J. KEENAN (2002), "Astro-historiographic chronologies of early China are unfounded", East Asian History, 23: 61-68.
2. Douglas J. KEENAN (2007), "Defence of planetary conjunctions for early Chinese chronology is unmerited", Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 10: 142–147.
3. Yun Kuen LEE (2002), "Building the chronology of early Chinese history", Asian Perspectives: the Journal of Archaeology for Asia and the Pacific, 41.1: 15-42.
4. LI Xueqin (2002), "The Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project", Journal of East Asian Archaeology, 4: 321–333.

Donate to Wikimedia