公元前1920年溃决洪水为中国大洪水传说和夏王朝的存在提供依据

Outburst flood at 1920 BCE supports historicity of China's Great Flood and the Xia dynasty

中国传统史学讲述了一个在治理洪水成功后建立夏朝并开启文明史的故事。然而,洪水和夏朝的历史真实性一直存在争议。本文重建了约公元前1920年黄河上游地震引发的滑坡坝体的溃决洪水,为一万年以来地球上发生的最大的内陆洪水之一,可以解释中国传说的大洪水。本文将夏朝的开端确定为约公元前1900年,比传统的认识晚了2~3个世纪。测定结果表明,此年代的黄河流域状态与新石器向青铜器时代大变迁时的状态相吻合,这同时也佐证了初级国家形态——二里头文化是夏朝存在的考古证据的假说。

China＇s historiographical traditions tell of the successful control of a Great Flood leading to the establishment of the Xia dynasty and the beginning of civilization. However, the historicity of the flood and Xia remain controversial. Here, we reconstruct an earthquakeinduced landslide dam outburst flood on the Yellow River about 1920 BCE that ranks as one of the largest freshwater floods of the Holocene and could account for the Great Flood. This would place the eginning of Xia at -1900 BCE, several centuries later than traditionally thought. This date coincides with the major transition from the Neolithic to Bronze Age in the Yellow River valley and supports hypotheses that tile primary state-level society of the Erlitou culture is an archaeological manifestation of the Xia dynasty.