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HISTORY · OPEN COLLECTION

Ancient China

Competing regional centres, walls, workshops and prestige rituals preceded Erlitou and the Shang kingdoms. The collection follows these different archaeological and political developments rather than assuming a single uninterrupted beginning.

32 complete records · free to read, no account needed

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Ancient China

Before you begin · Ancient China

Many origins before the Shang

The first complex societies in China arose in several regions, with different crops, techniques and rituals.

  1. V–III millennia BCE

    A Neolithic mosaic

    Yangshao and other regional traditions develop agriculture, ceramics and objects for diverse ritual practices.

  2. Ca. 3300–2300 BCE

    Liangzhu

    A city in the lower Yangzi combines rice paddies, hydraulic works and social differences visible in burials.

  3. II millennium BCE

    Erlitou and the Shang

    Bronze metallurgy and power centres announce a new political scenario.

Read the introduction

Prehistoric origins

During the Neolithic, the basins of the Yellow River and the Yangzi hosted communities that transformed their landscapes through agriculture. Painted pottery of Yangshao, jade objects and vessels of other traditions reveal distinct ways of making, exchanging and celebrating. Speaking of a Neolithic China serves to orient ourselves on the current map; it does not imply that a unified country existed then.

The earliest cultures

Between approximately 3300 and 2300 BCE, Liangzhu developed in the lower Yangzi a city, water management works and a marked funerary hierarchy, sustained by rice cultivation. In other regions, the traditions grouped as Longshan produced very elaborate ceramics. These contemporary developments show that authority and specialisation did not appear in a single focus.

How this history is formed

In the 2nd millennium BCE, Erlitou and then the Shang centres gave new scale to bronze production and to power institutions. Ritual vessels brought together knowledge of casting, resources and specialised labour. With the Shang we also have writing that allows us to know part of their political and religious world. This evidence is distinct from the genealogies transmitted by much later texts.

From the past to the museum you are about to explore

Jades, ceramics and bronzes allow us to follow relations between technique, ceremony and authority throughout the museum.

Interpreting these traces. The identification of Erlitou with the Xia dynasty of later accounts remains a debated interpretation.

Sources for further exploration
Explore the earliest cultures

Central Plain: Erlitou, Shang and Zhou

≈1900–1600 BCE · EASTERN ASIA

Access to the museum brings together the atlas and the antecedents of ancient China. Afterwards, seven areas order the historical context, culture, architecture, figures and society, treasures and grave goods, beliefs and curiosities, and three historical doors to other museums. Each file preserves narrative layers, cautions and differentiated sources.

The room combines a specific visual catalog with an audited thematic dossier. Separates facts, interpretations and cautions; the 3D volumes continue to be replaceable markers until models with provenance and license are incorporated.

Huang He and Yangzi basins, with focus on Shandong and the central plain

Competition between regional centres, walls, workshops and prestige rituals formed the setting from which Erlitou emerged and, later, the Shang kingdoms.

Longshan groups regional traditions and does not equal the Xia dynasty; ceramic similarities do not prove a direct political genealogy.

Read the background and its sources →

EXPLORE THE COLLECTION

The museum, section by section

Follow the museum’s curated order or go straight to a section. Every record includes its full public documentation and sources.

01 · COLLECTION

Museum Access

All sections ↑

Consult the maps and initial context sheets to situate this museum in time and territory; then choose the areas that interest you most.

02 · COLLECTION

Origins and context

All sections ↑

The first stop reconstructs the area before ancient China; afterwards, places and processes allow entry into its history without reducing it to a start date or an inevitable destination.

03 · COLLECTION

Culture, music and words

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These stops distinguish instruments, ritual actions, orality or writing and visual culture. Where there is no theatre, score or certain meaning, the museum preserves the limit.

04 · COLLECTION

Architecture and places

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These architectures explain how materials, water, work and memory organized the territory without converting an elevation reconstruction into certainty.

05 · COLLECTION

People and their stories

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Known people, reconstructed voices and collective footprints. From oldest to most recent according to life, reign or scene. The periods may overlap; The voices without a determinable date close the journey.

03 · Later historiography · Han dynasty, not Shang or Zhou period

AI-recreated portrait of Sima Qian, head and shoulders against a black background; hypothetical appearance.

Sima Qian

Sima Qian continued his father’s work and compiled annals, biographies, and other writings in the Shiji.

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04 · Later historiography · 3rd century CE, not Shang or Zhou period

AI-recreated portrait of Chen Shou, head and shoulders against a black background; hypothetical appearance.

Chen Shou

Chen Shou wrote the histories of Wei, Shu, and Wu, distinct from the later novel about the Three Kingdoms.

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06 · COLLECTION

Treasures and evidence

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Concrete pieces to understand materials, decisions and knowledge systems, with separate evidence and interpretation.

07 · COLLECTION

Beliefs and curiosities

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These cards separate what is documented from what is interpreted and recover practices, questions and details capable of changing our image of this culture.

08 · COLLECTION

Connected cultures

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Each door explains why the link exists, when it occurred, and what limits prevent contact from being converted into shared identity.

Continue exploring

books

Preguntas escritas en hueso

Discover the connected fiction project. The available Prehistory reader is in Spanish; other volumes are not presented as finished products for sale.

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Play through history

Try the available Prehistory browser alpha. Campaigns for the other cultures are still in development.

Open the game (Spanish) →

Visit the real places

Use each record’s institution and heritage links to continue your research. Country-by-country historical travel guides are planned, not yet published.

Historical travel →

Objects with a story

Discover artistic designs inspired by the collections and check each product’s availability. Museum access remains free.

Explore the collection →