The ruins of Xia Dynasty are concentrated in Erlitou, Yanshi, Henan Province, which is called "Erlitou Culture" by academic circles.
Erlitou site is located in the south of Erlitou village, 9 kilometers southwest of Yanshi County, Henan Province, between Yihe River and Luohe River. The site is about 2.5 kilometers long from east to west and about 1.5 kilometers long from north to south, with a total area of about 3 million square meters. It was discovered by 1957. Over the past 30 years, * * * has exposed 6,543,800 square meters of the ground, and found a large number of relics such as palace building sites, workshop sites, generals' houses, pottery kilns, caves and tombs, as well as relics such as copper, jade, stone, pottery and bones.
Two well-preserved palace bases were excavated. Some rammed earth abutment remains of different sizes were also found around the base site of the palace. These architectural sites reflect the scale of the palace complex at that time and become one of the main symbols of the site's status as the king's capital. In addition, several wells were found, about 1.95m long, 1.8m wide and over 4m deep. The plane is almost square, the walls are straight and smooth, or several pairs of symmetrical foothills are dug on both walls. In addition, ditches were found.
According to a large number of relics and relics unearthed from Erlitou site, the researchers believe that Erlitou culture is earlier than Erligang culture in Zhengzhou and later than Longshan culture in Henan. In the same strain, this locus can be divided into four stages. The first phase is close to Longshan culture in Henan, and the fourth phase is close to the early Shang culture in Erligang, Zhengzhou. The unearthed pottery is of high temperature, hard texture and light gray, and there are pots, ding, pots, statues, bowls and so on. In the second phase, bronze knives and bronze knights were unearthed, which are the earliest bronzes discovered in China so far. In the third phase, the base site of a large palace was discovered, covering an area of 6,543.8+0,000 square meters. Many tombs were also discovered, and there were obvious class differences in the size of the tomb pit and the number of buried objects. Archaeologists believe that Erlitou Phase I and Phase II belong to Xia culture. Erlitou's geographical location is exactly the same as that of "Tai Zhong Kang Kang Ju Dao" and "Jie Ju Dao" recorded in ancient books, and there are large palace sites and cultural relics, so it should be the imperial capital in summer.