Western Zhou Cultural and Historic Setting

The present chapter deals with the early history and archaeology of the Zhou dynasty (mid-eleventh to third centuries bce), beginning with the legendary period of early ancestors, traditionally traced back several centuries earlier. Up-to-date efforts of Chinese archaeologists to systematize and to interpret manifold cultural remains from circa the thirteenth to eleventh centuries bce in the present-day Shaanxi province are reviewed with the goal of identifying “proto-Zhou” in the material record. In addition, data are reviewed pertaining to contacts between Zhou and the contemporary political hegemon, Shang, before and during their final collision, after which the Zhou started claiming hegemony for itself. The outline of the “Western Zhou period” ending with the death of King You 幽 (r. 780–771 bce) is then introduced, touching upon the problems of periodization and of chronologic reconstructions proposed for the date of the conquest of Shang and for early Zhou reigns. Finally, poli...