Late Shang

  General Description   The Late Shang Dynasty (1250-1045 BCE) was an extension of the Erligang culture based in Yinxu, near modern Anyang. The Late Shang were the last 12 kings of the dynasty, beginning with Pan Geng. Unlike in Erligang settlements, pottery, oracle bones and other artefacts showing a fully formed writing system have been found at Late Shang sites. This system included ’pictograms, ideograms, and phonograms’. ^[1] The oldest written records uncovered from Shang contexts date back to 1200 BCE. ^[1]
The civilization at Yinxu is considered to represent the golden age of the Shang Dynasty ^[2] and 11 major royal tombs have been uncovered there by archaeologists. ^[2] Pottery and bronze and jade work flourished in the Late Shang period. ^[3] The Late Shang also had a developed calendar system with 30 days in a month and 12 months (360 days) in a year. ^[4]
Population and political organization
The Late Shang were based on the North China Plain. The dynasty’s territory stretched north to modern Shandong, south to Hebei, and west to Henan. ^[5] The Shang government was a feudal system in which the king and a class of military nobility ruled over the masses, who were mainly farmers. ^[6] Shang kings also served as high priests. ^[7] The Late Shang were in constant conflict with surrounding settlements and with civilizations from the steppe. ^[8]
The population of the Late Shang Dynasty was around 5 million in 1045 BCE. ^[9] The population of the Yinxu settlement in Anyang is unknown.

[1]: (San 2014, 19) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F.

[2]: (San 2014, 17) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F.

[3]: (San 2014, 20) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F.

[4]: (Encyclopedia Britannica 2017) “Shang Dynasty.” Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shang-dynasty Accessed May 29, 2017. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/8GNFD4WH.

[5]: (San 2014, 16) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F.

[6]: (San 2014, 16, 21) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F.

[7]: (San 2014, 16) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F)

[8]: (San 2014, 21) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F.

[9]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978, 170-72) McEvedy, Colin, and Richard Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/6U4QZXCG/q/atlas%20of%20world%20population.