The Sino-Australian Yiluo project focuses on the core area of early states in China, and particularly aims to obtain insights into the sociopolitical process in the Erlitou urban center and hinterland. Recent interdisciplinary researches have revealed much new information about the production and distribution of utilitarian and elite goods (stone tools and white pottery), leading to a new understanding of the hierarchical and heterarchical dimensions of the Erlitou state's power structure.
