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it between the Erlitou (c. 1900 to 1500 BCE) and the Erligang-Anyang transition period (13^th century BCE). See Bagley, “Shang Archaeology,” 165. Alternatively, Liu and Chen have dated Erligang culture to approximately 1600–1400 BCE (The Archaeology of China, 278). Because Erligang culture co-existed with the perhaps still-dominant Erlitou culture for a period of time, and the Yanshi walled settlement of Erligang culture supplies a portion of radiocarbon dates “in the same range and some as late as 1400–1100 B.C.” (Bagley, “Shang Archaeology,” 165, note 53), the Erligang-dominant period in the Central Plains has been temporarily assigned to approximately 1500–1300 BCE.

68. See Gettens, “Joining Methods in the Fabrication of Ancient Chinese Bronze Ceremonial Vessels,” 205–209. The bronzes Gettens analyzed in the Freer Gallery of Art were not necessarily Erligang bronzes, but examples of interlock casting that emerged no later than the Erligang period.

69. Two principal schemes of mechanical interlock are distinguished, respectively, by the terms pre-casting and casting on. In the former, one or more previously cast vessel components are inserted into the mold for the body of the vessel. In the latter, the body is cast first and molds for small parts are built against the body. For details, see Gettens, The Freer Chinese Bronzes, 76–98; Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 42–43; and Bagley, “Shang Archaeology,” 144.

70. As Bagley explained, the more complicated the shape, the more challenging and burdensome it is to withdraw mold sections from the model and construct the fitted assembly. In addition, the challenge of filling the mold with molten bronze without trapping pockets of air multiplies. The lost-wax process could solve the first problem, but not the second; the Erligang casters applied a stepped strategy that overcomes both, in which the joining is almost invariably achieved by a new pour that mechanically locks everything related into place (“Shang Archaeology,” 42).

71. Barnard, “Origin of Bronze Casting in Ancient China,” 8–9; Bagley, “The Zhengzhou Phase (The Erligang Period),” 99.

72. Su et al., Zhongguo Shanggu Jinshu Jishu, 97–99.

73. Bagley, “The Zhengzhou Phase (The Erligang Period),” 99.

74. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 42; Bagley, “Shang Archaeology,” 144.

75. Spacers from Panlongcheng are usually around 5 cm × 9 cm, and irregularly shaped as quadrilateral, triangular, and polygonal. See Liu et al., “Jishu Xuanze he Jishu Fengge de Xingcheng,” 208.