Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "马家窑文化" in Chinese language version.
The development of several key technologies in China —bronze and iron metallurgy and horse-drawn chariots— arose out of the relations of central China, of the Erlitou period (c. 1700–1500 BC), the Shang (c.1500–1046 BC) and the Zhou (1046–771 BC) dynasties, with their neighbours in the steppe. Intermediaries in these exchanges were disparate groups in a broad border area of relatively high land around the heart of China, the Central Plains. The societies of central China were already so advanced that, when these foreign innovations were adopted, they were transformed within highly organised social and cultural systems.
The development of several key technologies in China —bronze and iron metallurgy and horse-drawn chariots— arose out of the relations of central China, of the Erlitou period (c. 1700–1500 BC), the Shang (c.1500–1046 BC) and the Zhou (1046–771 BC) dynasties, with their neighbours in the steppe. Intermediaries in these exchanges were disparate groups in a broad border area of relatively high land around the heart of China, the Central Plains. The societies of central China were already so advanced that, when these foreign innovations were adopted, they were transformed within highly organised social and cultural systems.
the argument for possible Afanasievo-Xinjiang contact based on the finds at the Gumugou cemetery in the north-eastern rim of the Tarim basin would seem reasonable and needs to be kept open for the future archaeological finds. In other words, the possibility for the dispersal of early copperbased metallurgy from the Eurasian steppe into Xinjiang and further east to Gansu cannot be excluded at present and will have to be considered when further archaeological evidence becomes available.