The Duke of Zhou is known only through his role as regent after his brother King Wu's death, an event whose absolute date is not settled. Proposed dates for the Zhou conquest of Shang, on which every early Zhou chronology depends, range across nearly a century of scholarly reconstruction, and no source independently records his own birth or death year.
What would resolve this A settled absolute date for the Zhou conquest of Shang, which archaeoastronomical and bronze-inscription chronology projects continue to refine, together with an inscriptional or textual source naming the Duke of Zhou's own birth or death year rather than only his role in dynastic events.
OpenEarly Chinese history, Zhou dynasty chronology, SinologyMichael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (eds.), The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C.