Based on the analyses to the assemblages,types and decorative patterns,the bronze Jue-cup and Jia-pitcher with animal mask designs unearthed at Tongling City could be dated as the late phase of Erligang Culture;the Ding-tripod with "cloud pattern" and conical legs unearthed at Langxi County could be dated as the late phase of Erligang Culture to the early phase of Yinxu Period;the Yan-steamers with animal mask pattern unearthed at Shexian and Fanchang Counties and Tongling City and the Lei-vessel with scroll pattern unearthed at Dongzhi County could be dated as the lat phase of Yinxu Period to the early Western Zhou Dynasty.The sequential discoveries of bronzes with features of the Central Plains and from the Erlitou Culture to Yinxu Period in the region between the Huai and the Yangtze Rivers may figure out the outlined southward advancing route of the Xia and Shang Civilizations from the Central Plains to the Yangtze River Valley;the location for them to cross the Yangtze River would have been at along the bank through Wangjiang,Congyang and Wuwei Counties,Dongzhi,Guichi,Tongling and Fanchang to the south of which across the Yangtze River were just the core area of the copper mines in the southern Anhui.
