The Tomb of Fu Hao () lies within

Yinxu Yinxu (; ) is a Chinese archeological site corresponding to Yin, the final capital of the Shang dynasty (). Located in present-day Anyang, Henan, Yin served as the capital during the Late Shang period () which spanned the reigns of 12 Shang ki ...

, the site of the Late Shang capital, within the modern city of

Anyang Anyang ( zh, s=安阳, t=安陽; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan, China. Geographical coordinates are 35° 41'~ 36° 21' north latitude and 113° 38'~ 114° 59' east longitude. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the eas ...

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

, China. The tomb was discovered in 1976 by

Zheng Zhenxiang Zheng Zhenxiang (; 1929 – 14 March 2024) was a Chinese archaeologist most famous for excavating the Bronze Age tomb of Fuhao at Anyang in 1976. She has been referred to as the 'First Lady of Chinese Archaeology'. Zheng died on 14 March 2024, a ...

and excavated by the Anyang Working Team of the Archaeological Institute of the

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese state research institute and think tank. It is a ministry-level institution under the State Council of the People's Republic of China. The CASS is the highest academic institution and c ...

, who designated the tomb as M5. It is to date the only Shang royal tomb found intact with its contents and excavated by archaeologists. Among the wealth of goods found in the tomb were bronze vessels bearing the name of Fu Hao, who is mentioned on

oracle bone Oracle bones are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron which were used in pyromancya form of divinationduring the Late Shang period () in ancient China. '' Scapulimancy'' is the specific term if ox scapulae were used for the divination, ''p ...

s as a military leader and consort of king Wu Ding, who reigned . After extensive restoration the tomb was opened to the public in 1999.

Discovery and contents

In 1976,

and her archaeological team were probing the area around

with a long shovel, called a Luoyang shovel, and recovered some samples of red lacquer. The burial pit uncovered, officially numbered as tomb #5, has dimensions and was located just outside the main royal cemetery. The tomb has been dated to and identified, from inscriptions on ritual bronzes, to be that of Fu Hao.Keightley, David N. "Art, Ancestors, and the Origins of Writing in China," ''Representations'' (Number 56, Special Issue: The New Erudition, 1996): p. 76. Her tomb, one of the smaller tombs, is one of the best-preserved

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...

royal tombs and the only one not to have been looted before excavation. Inside the pit was evidence of a wooden chamber of dimensions that contained a

lacquer Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity. Asian lacquerware, which may be c ...

ed wooden coffin that had since completely rotted away. The floor level housed the royal corpse and most of the utensils and implements buried with her. Rare jade artifacts, such as those of the

Liangzhu culture The Liangzhu () culture or civilization (3300–2300 BC) was the last Chinese Neolithic jade culture in the Yangtze River Delta. The culture was highly stratified, as jade, silk, ivory and lacquer artifacts were found exclusively in elite burial ...

, were probably collected by Fu Hao as antiques. While some of the bronze artifacts were probably used by the lady and her household, others inscribed with her posthumous name of Mu Xin were undoubtedly cast as

grave goods Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are items buried along with a body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into an afterlife, or offerings to gods. Grave goods may be classed by researche ...

. The artifacts in the grave consisted of: * 755 jade objects (including Longshan, Liangzhu, Hongshan and Shijiahe cultural artifacts) * 564 bone objects (including 500 hairpins and 20 arrowheads) * 468 bronze objects, including over 200 ritual bronze vessels, 130 weapons, 23 bells, 27 knives, 4 mirrors, and 4 tiger statues * 63 stone objects * 11 pottery objects * 5 ivory objects * 6,900

cowry Cowrie or cowry () is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails in the family Cypraeidae. Cowrie shells have held cultural, economic, and ornamental significance in various cultures. The cowrie was the shell most widely used wo ...

shells (used as currency during the Shang dynasty) Below the corpse was a small pit holding the remains of six sacrificial dogs, and along the edge lay the skeletons of 16 human slaves, evidence of human sacrifice. There is also evidence above ground of a structure built over the tomb that probably served as an ancestral hall for holding memorial ceremonies; this has since been restored. By connecting the jade artifact in the tomb of Fu Hao to much earlier artifact through stylistic and technical analysis, the archaeological context has identified an early collector, a woman who gathered about her artifacts of a much earlier period.

References

External links

Website on the tomb10 minute documentary feature
part 1 of 7 {{Coord, 36, 7, 15.71, N, 114, 18, 58.34, E, region:CN-HA_type:landmark_dim:20, display=title 1976 archaeological discoveries Archaeological sites in China Buildings and structures in Henan Shang dynasty Tombs in China Yinxu

Discovery and contents

See also

References

Further reading

External links