西周时期的楚国先史主要依据《史记·楚世家》的记载，文字简略，史料阙失，自共和元年(前841)熊勇之世始有确切纪年。近年来出土文献如《清华简》中的《楚居》、《系年》等篇、《上博简》以及金文文献保存了西周时期的楚先逸史。这些史料可分为传说时代的楚先逸史共九位、从穴熊到熊渠九世、从熊渠到楚武王熊达十三世。《楚居》首次记载了楚先公在蛮夷地区的开拓史，成为西周王朝征伐的政治军事动因。在王纲解纽的西周末期，楚国获得了广阔的发展空间。对西周时期楚公逸史的研究可解决一系列相关历史文学疑难问题。

The history about the kings of Chu during the West Zhou Dynasty was mainly based on the Chu Family of the Historical Records (《史记·楚世家》) by SimaQian (司马迁), which was very sketchy and had a lot of historical data missing. But from the first year of Gonghe (共和, B.C.841) under the reign of the King Xiongyong (熊勇) ,the Chronicle of the kings of Chu started to be recorded in detail. Such documents unearthed in recent years as Chuju(楚居) and Xinian (系年) included in Tsinghua Bamboo Slips (清华简), some documents included in Shanghai Museum Bamboo Slips (上博简), and some inscriptions on ancient Chinese bronze objects have well preserved the missing history of the earlier kings of Chu during the West Zhou Dynasty. These historical data contain the lost history of nine kings of Chu during the legendary period, the lost history of nine kings of Chu from Xuexiong (穴熊) to Xiongqu (熊渠), and the lost history of thirteen kings of Chu from Xiongqu (熊渠) to King Wuwang of Chu (楚武王).The Kingdom of Chu extended its territory at the end of West Zhou Dynasty. The study of the lost history of the kings of Chu during the West Zhou Dynasty can help to solve a series of problems related to history and literature.