The
Tomb of Lady Fu Hao is an archaeological site at the ruins of the ancient
Shang DynastyThe Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia Dynasty. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper", in the Yellow River valley...
capital of Yin. It was discovered in
1976The year 1976 in archaeology involved some significant events.-Excavations:*The Chaco Project excavates fourteen rooms at Pueblo Alto from 1976 to 1978....
and identified as the final resting place of the queen and military general
Fu HaoFù Hǎo , posthumously Mu Xin , was one of the many wives of King Wu Ding of the Shang Dynasty and, unusually for that time, also served as a military general and high priestess....
, likely the Lady Hao (who was killed by a different state officer) inscribed on
oracle boneOracle bones are pieces of bone or turtle plastron bearing the answers to divination chiefly during the late Shang Dynasty. They were heated and cracked, then typically inscribed using a bronze pin in what is known as oracle bone script...
s by king
Wu DingWu Ding was a Shang Dynasty King of China.His is the first historically verifiable name in the history of Chinese dynasties...
and one of his many wives.
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 SciencesThe Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is the premier academic research organization in the fields of philosophy and social sciences of China, it is also the most important think tank in China. Established in 1977, CASS was built on the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Chinese...
, extensively restored, and open to the public in 1999.
In
1976The year 1976 in archaeology involved some significant events.-Excavations:*The Chaco Project excavates fourteen rooms at Pueblo Alto from 1976 to 1978....
archaeologists probing the area around
YinxuYinxu is the ruins of the last capital of China's Shang Dynasty . The capital served 255 years for 12 kings in 8 generations....
with a long shovel, called a Luoyang shovel, recovered some samples of red lacquer.
The
Tomb of Lady Fu Hao is an archaeological site at the ruins of the ancient
Shang DynastyThe Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia Dynasty. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper", in the Yellow River valley...
capital of Yin. It was discovered in
1976The year 1976 in archaeology involved some significant events.-Excavations:*The Chaco Project excavates fourteen rooms at Pueblo Alto from 1976 to 1978....
and identified as the final resting place of the queen and military general
Fu HaoFù Hǎo , posthumously Mu Xin , was one of the many wives of King Wu Ding of the Shang Dynasty and, unusually for that time, also served as a military general and high priestess....
, likely the Lady Hao (who was killed by a different state officer) inscribed on
oracle boneOracle bones are pieces of bone or turtle plastron bearing the answers to divination chiefly during the late Shang Dynasty. They were heated and cracked, then typically inscribed using a bronze pin in what is known as oracle bone script...
s by king
Wu DingWu Ding was a Shang Dynasty King of China.His is the first historically verifiable name in the history of Chinese dynasties...
and one of his many wives.
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 SciencesThe Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is the premier academic research organization in the fields of philosophy and social sciences of China, it is also the most important think tank in China. Established in 1977, CASS was built on the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Chinese...
, extensively restored, and open to the public in 1999.
Archaeological discoveries
In
1976The year 1976 in archaeology involved some significant events.-Excavations:*The Chaco Project excavates fourteen rooms at Pueblo Alto from 1976 to 1978....
archaeologists probing the area around
YinxuYinxu is the ruins of the last capital of China's Shang Dynasty . The capital served 255 years for 12 kings in 8 generations....
with a long shovel, called a Luoyang shovel, recovered some samples of red lacquer. 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 HaoFù Hǎo , posthumously Mu Xin , was one of the many wives of King Wu Ding of the Shang Dynasty and, unusually for that time, also served as a military general and high priestess....
.
Her tomb, one of the smaller tombs, is one of the best-preserved
Shang DynastyThe Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia Dynasty. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper", in the Yellow River valley...
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
lacquerIn a general sense, lacquer is a clear or coloured varnish that dries by solvent evaporation and often a curing process as well that produces a hard, durable finish, in any sheen level from ultra matte to high gloss and that can be further polished as required.The term lacquer originates from the...
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 cultureThe Liangzhu culture was the last Neolithic jade culture in the Yangtze River Delta of China. Its area of influence extended from around Lake Tai north to Nanjing and the Chang Jiang, east to Shanghai and the sea, and south to Hangzhou...
, 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. The artifacts unearthed within the grave consisted of:
- 755 jade objects (including Longshan
The Longshan culture was a late Neolithic culture in China, centered on the central and lower Yellow River and dated from about 3000 BC to 2000 BC...
, LiangzhuThe Liangzhu culture was the last Neolithic jade culture in the Yangtze River Delta of China. Its area of influence extended from around Lake Tai north to Nanjing and the Chang Jiang, east to Shanghai and the sea, and south to Hangzhou...
, HongshanThe Hongshan culture was a Neolithic culture in northeastern China. Hongshan sites have been found in an area stretching from Inner Mongolia to Liaoning and Hebei, and dated from about 4700 BC to 2900 BC....
and ShijiaheThe Shijiahe culture was a late Neolithic culture centered around the middle Yangtze River region in Hubei, China. It succeeded the Qujialing culture in the same region and inherited its unique artefact of painted spindle whorls. Pottery figurines and distinct jade worked with advanced techniques...
cultural artifacts)
- 564 bone objects (including 500 hairpins and 20 arrowheads)
- 468 bronze objects (including 130 weapons, 23 bells, 27 knives, 4 mirrors, and 4 tiger statues)
- 63 stone objects
- 11 pottery objects
- 5 ivory objects
- 6,900 cowry
Cowry, also sometimes spelled cowrie, plural cowries, is the common name for a group of small to large marine gastropods in the family Cypraeidae. The word cowry is also often used to refer to the shells of these snails....
shells (Shang Dynasty currency)
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.
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.