The group’s recently published findings in Science magazine explain how they found traces of this historic deluge. For more than a century, archaeologists have looked for evidence that could shed light on historical accounts of early Chinese civilization, such as those in first century BCE book Shiji (史記, traditionally translated as Records of the Grand Historian). Many accounts in the Shiji have turned out to be fairly accurate, especially when it came to the Shang dynasty that followed the Xia. Because the Shang dynasty civilization had writing, scientists have been able to verify the Shiji’s accuracy from written records as well as material remains.

Reconstructing a flood

Much about the Xia dynasty, however, remains mysterious. Although this Bronze Age civilization was highly sophisticated, it did not use writing, and the only accounts we have of it come from stories of the great flood that Yu controlled. Now, at least we can be sure that the biggest flood on Earth over the past 10,000 years happened on the Yellow River in roughly 1900 BCE. Historians like those who wrote the Shiji have placed the rise of the Xia dynasty during the 2200s BCE, so their dates are about 300 years off. But whenever it happened, the flood was so devastating and enormous that the archaeologists who discovered it have no doubt that it would have left a lasting impression on any civilization that experienced it.