The Decline And Use Of The Early Bronze Age Capitals In The Zhengluo Region

The capital was the physical carrier of state power,and it occupies an important position in the study of early states and civilizations.Erlitou in Yanshui,Henan,and Zhengzhou Mall are typical sites with the most solid archaeological work and exceptionally rich archaeological data in Zheng and Luo regions,and archaeological discoveries over more than half a century have shown that they are representatives of early Bronze Age capitals.Since the 1990s,the intervention of settlement archaeology has provided us with a different perspective of"dynastic history" to systematically analyze and explore the stages of social development represented by different capitals,and a series of results have been achieved.After the existing archaeological discoveries and researches have fully answered the question of "what is a capital",this paper tries to start from the perspective of "spatial analysis" of settlement archaeology,using the principle of dialectical relationship between regional society and space,and taking the principle of the Xia and Shang dynasties and the repeated relocation of the Shang capital as the basis for the analysis.The paper attempts to answer the questions of"why","how",and "the impact" of the change,using the principle of regional socio-spatial dialectic relationship and the two important historical events,namely the change of Xia and Shang and the repeated relocation of the Shang capital,as clues.In view of this,this study begins with a brief review of the academic history of the early Bronze Age capitals in Zheng and Luo,which is the basis of this paper’s discussion.At the same time,the theoretical approaches related to the spatial and spatial production of ecological anthropology are introduced,and an attempt is made to explore the suitability of its socio-spatial concept to the spatial concept of archaeological settlements,and to make further theoretical discussions.At the micro level,the transformation of the archaeological cultural traditions in the capital area from a pluralistic outlook to a monolithic one reflects the process of integrating and reconstructing the cultural space within the capital.The influx of the Zhanghe and Yakeshi cultural traditions in the Erlitou capital during the Xia and Shang dynasties kicked off the transformation of the Erlitou capital from prosperity to decline.With the prosperity brought by the transition of Zhengzhou Mall to the typical Erligang Ⅱ,the Erligang culture realized the integration and reconstruction of multiple cultures such as Erlitou culture,Haqiguan culture and Huiwei culture,and realized the cultural dissemination and political expansion of monolithic in a wide area.It can be seen that the spatial pattern of multiculturalism in Zhengzhou and Luo was created along with the major historical event of the change of Xia and Shang,and after the Zhengzhou Mall established its core position in Zhengzhou and Luo,its spatial cultural pattern showed a clear monolithic trend.Such a spatial pattern of diverse cultural traditions is once again evident in the Zhengzhou region at the end of the Shang and early Zhou dynasties,and the cultural space is once again diversified,perhaps indicating the cultural portrayal of the changing times of the Shang and Zhou dynasties in the Zhengzhou region.At the meso level,the cultural remains within the capital and the morphology and layout of regional settlements are examined and discussed from the perspective of settlement archaeology.As far as the development of the capital itself is concerned,the destruction and reconstruction of the Erligang culture’s building sites in the Erlitou Palace area and the gradual evolution of the Zhengzhou Mall in the Baijiazhuang period into a sacred space of the Shang dynasty show that the process of the decline and utilization of the capital was also a process of destruction and reorganization of the social space within the capital.The number,scale and rank of settlements in different periods can visually show that the decline of the Erlitou capital and Zhengzhou Mall led to the development of regional social space to the other side of prosperity.On the whole,from the fourth phase of the Erlitou culture to the collapse of the Zhengzhou Mall during the Baijiazhuang period,the regional settlements and the social structure reflected by them underwent roughly two periods of adjustment:the shift of the regional center during the Xia-Shang period,and the migration of the Shang capital at the end of the Baijiazhuang period as a result of the "Nine Worlds’ Rebellion".Behind the major historical events,there was a constant change in the social space of the region,and the increase or decrease of the grassroots settlements and the presence or absence of secondary centers were accompanied by a new round of response to the establishment of the central capital.The historical changes of the settlement society in Zheng and Luo are important references for us to observe the evolution of political space pattern and social reorganization based on different cultural and spatial contexts.From a macroscopic point of view,the decline and use of the capital was both historically inevitable and out of practical necessity.The Luoyang basin’s mountainous landscape determined the spatial construction of the Erlitou capital’s defense strategy,and the Shang-Yi alliance,represented by the Lower Seven Walls culture and the Yakeshi culture,carried out a series of military initiatives such as alliances,integration,and conquests against the three layers of the Erlitou capital’s military defense circle,completing the transfer of the regional center of the Central Plains hinterland with the "Yin Revolution".In the early Shang period,the city of Zhengzhou was able to reconstruct the empty political order inherited from the Xia Dynasty by setting up "target" cities and eups in a wide area of the kingdom.The extensive establishment of cites and the extensive sacrifices and rewards of prestige goods at the end of the Baijiazhuang period laid the groundwork for the collapse of the early Shang dynasty’s political system.With the relocation of Pan Geng to Yin,the political center of the Shang dynasty gradually shifted to Anyang Yinxu,while Zhengzhou Mall,the capital of the early Shang dynasty,remained as an important area under the control of the Shang dynasty.The political status of this "sacred capital" also changed significantly with the Shang and Zhou dynasties.In the early years of the Western Zhou,the rulers attempted to adopt the early Shang model of social and spatial management,setting up new capitals in the old ones of the previous dynasty to appease the remnants of the people and regulate the local area,but the"setting up of three prisons" was not effective in restraining the Yin Shang nobility,and the emergence of the crisis of the three prisons marked the bankruptcy of this initiative,and the Zhou royal family had to rebuild the political order through another military campaign.The Zhou royal court had to reestablish the political order through another military campaign.After re-examining the strategic value of the Zheng and Luo region,the rulers of the Western Zhou gradually relaxed their management and administration of Zhengzhou.They began to explore new ways to take over the "middle of the world".After the arrival of the Zhou,the silent homeland of the Xia people once again became the center of gravity of ancient China’s political society,and the three capitals of Luoyi,Fenghao and Qiyi together formed the new core of the political space of the Western Zhou dynasty.The rise and fall of Luoyi and Guanyi represent the attempt of the Western Zhou royal family to construct a political space "in the middle of the world".