Xiaoshuangqiao () is the site of a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

city, located on the southern bank of the Suoxu River, 20 km northwest of

Zhengzhou Zhengzhou (; ), also spelt Zheng Zhou and alternatively romanized as Chengchow, is the capital and largest city of Henan Province in the central part of the People's Republic of China. Located in north-central Henan, it is one of the National ...

. At the centre of the site are rammed-earth foundations of palaces. To the north are sacrificial pits containing human remains. Further pits to the north and south contain the remains of sacrificial cattle. Many of the southern pits also contain remains of other animals, pottery, tools, ornaments and waste from bronze smelting. The pottery items bear symbols written by brush in red

cinnabar Cinnabar (), or cinnabarite (), from the grc, κιννάβαρι (), is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of Mercury sulfide, mercury(II) sulfide (HgS). It is the most common source ore for refining mercury (element), elemental mercury and ...

pigment. In all but a few cases, these symbols occur singly. A few resemble later characters for numerals, but most are pictorial, representing people, birds and various objects. Chronologically, the site falls between the

Zhengzhou Shang City The Zhengzhou Shang City () is an archaeological site of the Bronze Age Erligang culture in Zhengzhou, Henan, China. Studies give it 4 chronological phases from 1630 to 1400 BC. The excavation (archaeology), excavation of the site is of great im ...

and

Huanbei Huanbei () is the site of a Bronze Age city on the northern outskirts of the modern city of Anyang in Henan province, China, discovered in 1999. The name refers to its position to the north (''běi'') of the Huan River. The city seems to have bee ...

near modern

Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It had a ...

. Some scholars identify it with the city of Ao (隞) named as one of the capitals of the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

Sima Qian Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...

's ''

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...

'' and the ''

Bamboo Annals The ''Bamboo Annals'' (), also known as the ''Ji Tomb Annals'' (), is a chronicle of ancient China. It begins in the earliest legendary time (the age of the Yellow Emperor) and extends to 299 BC, with the later centuries focusing on the history ...

''.

References

* * {{Prehistoric cultures of China Archaeological sites in China Ancient Chinese cities Chinese architectural history Shang dynasty Buildings and structures in Henan