1691–2161 AM · ≈ 2070 BCE — 1600 BCE · world history
The Xia dynasty and Erlitou
Chinese tradition places in this age the Xia dynasty, the first in the line of kingdoms.
The later Chinese chronicles begin their count of dynasties with the Xia, telling how its founder Yu tamed the flood by digging channels for the rivers and passed power to his son, beginning hereditary rule. There is no written evidence from the age itself, and the argument over whether the Xia existed continues to this day. But at Erlitou on the Yellow River a large settlement of those very years has been excavated: palace platforms, craft workshops, and China's first bronze vessels cast in composite moulds. Whether or not this matches the Xia of tradition, a state was already taking shape here.