The Tomb of Fu Hao () is an archaeological site at

Yinxu Yinxu (modern ; ) is the site of one of the ancient and major historical capitals of China. It is the source of the archeological discovery of oracle bones and oracle bone script, which resulted in the identification of the earliest known Chine ...

, the ruins of the ancient

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

capital Yin, within the modern city of

Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It had a ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

Province, China. Discovered in 1976 by

Zheng Zhenxiang Zheng Zhenxiang () is a Chinese archaeologist most famous for excavating the Bronze Age tomb of Fuhao at Anyang. She has been referred to as the 'First Lady of Chinese Archaeology'. Career After completing her undergraduate degree at Peking ...

, it was identified as the final resting place of the queen and military general

Fu Hao Fu Hao () died c. 1200 BC, posthumous temple name Mu Xin (母辛), was one of the many wives of King Wu Ding of the Shang dynasty and also served as a military general and high priestess. Minimal evidence detailing Fu Hao's life and military ach ...

, who died about 1200 BCE and was likely the Lady Hao inscribed on

oracle bone Oracle bones () are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron, which were used for pyromancy – a form of divination – in ancient China, mainly during the late Shang dynasty. ''Scapulimancy'' is the correct term if ox scapulae were used for th ...

s by king

Wu Ding Wu Ding (); personal name Zi Zhao, was a king of the Shang dynasty who ruled China around 1200s BC. He is the earliest figure in Chinese history mentioned in contemporary records. The annals of the Shang dynasty compiled by later historians were o ...

and one of his many wives. It is to date the only Shang royal tomb found intact with its contents and excavated by archaeologists. The excavation was conducted 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 research institute and think tank. The institution is the premier comprehensive national academic research organization in the People's Republic of China for the study in the fields of ...

, and after extensive restoration the tomb was opened to the public in 1999.

Discovery and contents

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

and her archaeological team were probing the area around

with a long shovel, called a

Luoyang shovel Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanya ...

, and recovered some samples of red lacquer. The burial pit uncovered, officially titled tomb number 5, is a single pit, 5.6 metres by 4 m, just outside the main royal cemetery. The tomb has been dated to around 1200 BCE and identified, from inscriptions on ritual bronzes, to be that of

.Keightley, David N. "Art, Ancestors, and the Origins of Writing in China," ''Representations'' (Number 56, Special Issue: The New Erudition, 1996): 68–95. Page 76. Her tomb, one of the smaller tombs, is one of the best-preserved

royal tombs and the only one not to have been looted before excavation. Inside the pit was evidence of a wooden chamber 5 meters long, 3.5 m wide and 1.3 m high containing 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 ca ...

ed wooden coffin that has 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 (; 3300–2300 BC) was the last Neolithic jade culture in the Yangtze River Delta of China. The culture was highly stratified, as jade, silk, ivory and lacquer artifacts were found exclusively in elite burials, while pottery ...

, 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 the items buried along with the body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a ...

. The artifacts unearthed within the grave consisted of: *755 jade objects (including Longshan, Liangzhu, Hongshan and

Shijiahe The Shijiahe culture (2500–2000 BC) was a late Neolithic culture centered on the middle Yangtze River region in Shijiahe Town, Tianmen, Hubei Province, China. It succeeded the Qujialing culture in the same region and inherited its unique art ...

cultural artifacts) *564 bone objects (including 500 hairpins and 20 arrowheads) *468 bronze objects, including over 200

ritual bronze vessels Sets and individual examples of ritual bronzes survive from when they were made mainly during the Chinese Bronze Age. Ritual bronzes create quite an impression both due to their sophistication of design and manufacturing process, but also beca ...

, 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, ocean, marine Gastropoda, gastropod Mollusca, mollusks in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. The term ''porcelain'' derives from the old Italian language, Italia ...

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