Tomb of Fu Hao

The Tomb of Lady Fu Hao (simplified Chinese: 妇好墓; traditional Chinese: 婦好墓; pinyin: Fùhǎo Mù) is an archaeological site at the ruins of the ancient Shang Dynasty capital of Yin. It was discovered in 1976 and identified as the final resting place of the queen and military general Fu Hao, likely the Lady Hao (who was killed by a different state officer) inscribed on oracle bones by king Wu Ding and one of his many wives.[1]

One of the best-preserved Shang royal tombs it was excavated by the Anyang Working Team of the Archaeological Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, extensively restored, and open to the public in 1999.

Archaeological discoveries

In 1976 archaeologists probing the area around Yinxu with a long shovel, called a Luoyang shovel, recovered some samples of red lacquer.[2] The burial pit uncovered, officially titled tomb number 5, is a single pit, 5.6 meters by 4 m, just outside the main royal cemetery. The tomb has been dated to around BCE 1200 and identified, from ritual bronze inscriptions, to be that of Fu Hao.[3][4]

Her tomb, one of the smaller tombs, is one of the best-preserved Shang Dynasty royal tombs and the only one not to have been looted before excavation.[1] Inside the pit was evidence of a wooden chamber 5 meters long, 3.5 m wide and 1.3 m high containing a lacquered wooden coffin that has since completely rotted away.[5][6]

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, were probably collected by Fu Hao as antiques and 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 good.[7] The artifacts unearthed within the grave consisted of:

Below the corpse was a small pit holding the remains of six dogs, and along the edge lay the skeletons of 16 human slaves, evidence of human sacrifice.[1]

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.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c Ebrey, Patricia (2006). The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge University Press. pp. 26–27. ISBN 0-521-43519-X. 
  2. ^ "An Yang, ancient capital of the Shang Dynasty". China Central Television. http://www.cctv.com/program/travelogue/20041118/101442.shtml. Retrieved August 6, 2007. 
  3. ^ "The Tomb of Lady Fu Hao" (PDF). British Museum. http://www.ancientchina.co.uk/staff/resources/background/bg7/bg7pdf.pdf. Retrieved August 4, 2007. 
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Buckley Ebrey, Patricia. "Shang Tomb of Fu Hao". A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization. University of Washington. http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/archae/2fuhmain.htm. Retrieved August 4, 2007. 
  6. ^ * Temple, Robert. (1986). The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention. With a forward by Joseph Needham. New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0671620282. Page 75.
  7. ^ "Excavations at the Tomb of Fu Hao". Teaching the Golden Age of Chinese Archeology. National Gallery of Art. http://www.nga.gov/education/chinatp_fu.shtm. Retrieved August 4, 2007. 
  8. ^ Buckley Ebrey, Patricia. "Jade from Fu Hao's Tomb". A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization. University of Washington. http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/archae/2fuhjade.htm. Retrieved August 4, 2007. 
  9. ^ Buckley Ebrey, Patricia. "Bronzes from Fu Hao's Tomb". A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization. University of Washington. http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/archae/2fuhbron.htm. Retrieved August 4, 2007. 
  10. ^ "Lady Hao's Tomb in the Yin Ruins". The Garden Museum of Yin Ruins. "Lady Hao's Tomb was a tomb of the royal family of the Yin Dynasty, which was excavated by Anyang Working Team of the Archaeological Institute of the Chinese Social Science Academy in 1976. There was a house foundation remained from the Yin Dynasty on the tomb, which was restored to be the Memorial Hall for Lady Hao during the construction of the garden museum. The coffin chamber of the tomb under the house foundation was in the shape of a small shaft with many kinds of funerary objects buried in 7 layers. There were over 1,900 pieces of objects unearthed from the tomb, including bronze vessels, jade objects, gem objects, bone implements, potteries and so on. In addition, there were over 6,880 cowry-shells as well. The coffin chamber of Lady Hao's tomb was restored in 1999. According to the epigraphs on the bronze vessels and the shapes of the objects and referring to the records concerned in the oracular inscriptions, the occupant of the tomb should be the concubine Lady Hao if the King Wuding of the Yin Dynasty. Lady Hao was the earliest woman general in China, died in the period of Wuding and was given a name of temple as Xin after her death. The discovery of Lady Hao's tomb is of important value to the research of politics, economy, culture and art, small states around, rural system, dating of the bronze vessels, ancient science and technology and so on of the Yin dynasty."