Taosi
Encyclopedia
Taosi is an archaeological site in Xiangfen County
Xiangfen County
Xiangfen County is an administrative district of the Shanxi province in China. It has an area of and has 500,000 inhabitants.-External links:*...

, Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....

, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. Taosi is considered to be part of the late phase of the Longshan culture
Longshan culture
The Longshan culture was a late Neolithic culture in China, centered on the central and lower Yellow River and dated from about 3000 BC to 2000 BC...

 in southern Shanxi, also known as the Taosi phase (2300 BC - 1900 BC). Taosi was surrounded by a rammed earth wall; the Huaxia
Huaxia
Huaxia is a name often used to represent China or Chinese civilization.-Etymology:According to the historical record, Zuo Zhuan, the ancient Xia Dynasty of central China was a state that held propriety and justice in high esteem...

 settlement outgrew the perimeter of the wall. At its height, Taosi covered an area of 30,000 square meters. It also contained and astronomical observatory, the oldest in East Asia. The settlement is the largest Longshan site discovered in the Linfen basin area, possibly a regional center.

The cemetery at Taosi contained over 1,500 burials. The burials at Taosi were highly stratified
Social stratification
In sociology the social stratification is a concept of class, involving the "classification of persons into groups based on shared socio-economic conditions ... a relational set of inequalities with economic, social, political and ideological dimensions."...

 (the most stratified of Longshan sites), with burial wealth concentrated in the graves of a few males (nine large graves). While the largest graves had a large cache of grave goods (some with over 200 objects), most of the small graves did not have grave goods. A single bronze bell was also found at a Taosi grave.

Chinese archaeologists believe that Taosi was the site of a state Youtang (有唐) conquered by Emperor Yao and became his capital. The city collapsed with a rebellion against the ruling class. On the other hand, Western scholars tend to believe that emperor Yao is a mythical figure.
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