New perspectives

The introduction of an approach based on the natural sciences has thrown new light on what China was like in its infancy.

For instance, Yuan Jing, a professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, says rice produced in the south of China makes up more than 30 percent of the grains excavated from the Erlitou site.

"We need more samples to see whether the unconventionally high percentage of rice indicates a tribute system," he says.

Through gene studies on human remains found in Erlitou, it is also possible to check the origins of their migration.

"It will provide many interesting findings in a few years if we have comparative studies of their genes with those from subjects found in Yinxu," Yuan says.

"The six decades of study in Erlitou shows the developing ideas and research methods of Chinese archaeology," Chen observes. "Interdisciplinary cooperation helps us to answer more questions."

Xu Hong says he believes Erlitou should be added to a global picture in order to see its pivotal role in the Bronze Age.

"The first globalization began 4,000 years ago," he says. "Different civilizations began to communicate with each other on the vast Eurasian grassland, spreading production techniques."

He says the world's earliestknown metallurgy of bronze appeared in West Asia, but Erlitou marks a monumental waypoint in the development of bronzeware.