  The date of composition refers to the time when the Laozi reached more or less its final form; it does not rule out later interpolations or corruptions. The traditional view, of course, is that the Laozi was written by Lao Dan in the sixth or early fifth century B.C.E. This seems unlikely, however, if it is assumed that the Laozi was written by a single author. As the archaeological evidence to be presented below will indicate, bodies of sayings attributed to Laozi were committed to writing probably from the second half of the fifth century B.C.E., resulting in different collections with overlapping contents. These collections grew, competed for attention, and gradually came to be consolidated during the fourth century B.C.E. By the middle of the third century B.C.E., the Laozi probably reached a relatively stable form.