Meanings
- alternativeAlternative form of Erlitou.
Of the other Honan sites reported since 1954 which have been assigned to the Erh-li-t'ou culture, none are as rich as Erh-li-t'ou itself.
1979, Katheryn McAllister Linduff, “Local Styles”, in Tradition, Phase and Style of Shang and Chou Bronze Vessels, Garland Publishing, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 1112 more examples
The Shang civilization itself arose in a relatively small area of western Honan province. At Erh-li-t’ou and Cheng-chou excavations have documented the transition from the Lung-shan to the earliest stage of the Shang. Erh-li-t’ou has yielded evidence of bronze metallurgy, a highly stratified society, craft specialization and the presence of large structures with pounded earth (hang-t’u) foundations.
1980, Donn Bayard, “East Asia in the Bronze Age”, in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Archaeology, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 168, column 1Until recently, the Hsia Dynasty was considered a purely mythic expression of Chinese prehistory, but archaeological finds in the 1970s established its reality. According to The Cambridge Encyclopedia of China,¹ its capital was at Erh-li-t'ou in Honan Province.
1998, Herbie Brennan, Martian Genesis: the Extraterrestrial Origins of the Human Race, Piatkus, →ISBN, →OCLC, pages 172–173
Origin
- Mandarin二里頭
- EnglishErh-li-t'ou
From Mandarin 二里頭 (Èrlǐtóu), Wade–Giles romanization: Êrh⁴-li³-tʻou².
More words from Mandarin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Erh-li-t'ou. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Erh-li-t'ou
“Erh-li-t'ou.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Erh-li-t'ou. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Erh-li-t'ou,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Erh-li-t'ou.
Source: Erh-li-t'ou on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.