The excavation of burial M89 at Tiesan Road at the Yinxu Site in Anyang, Henan
Abstract
In 2006, a burial of the Shang Dynasty (numbered as 2006ATSM89) was found in the Shang Dynasty bone workshop zone on Tiesan Road in the south portion of the Yinxu Site. This burial, which dated to Phase II of the Yinxu Period, was a small, rectangular, vertical shaft pit burial. The grave goods included only one set of a bronze gu-goblet and a jue-cup, but there were numerous jades, ranging from a jade qi-battle ax with a bronze hilt and jade spearheads with bronze sockets – symbols of rather high status – to semi-finished jade products, jade castoffs, and jade-working tools. Based on an inscription in the shape of a jade scepter appearing on the bronze gu-goblet, the occupant of this burial is surmised to have been a petty aristocrat in charge of the production of jades and management of jade workshops. His clan might have been specialized jade workers, and there might be jade workshops of the Yinxu Period near this burial. As the first burial found at the Yinxu Site whose occupant can be tentatively identified as a jade worker, M89 is of great significance to the study of craft production of the Yinxu Period.
Postscript
The original report published in Kaogu 考古 (Archaeology) 2017.3:26–36 with 10 line drawings and rubbings and 30 color photographs was authored by Yuling He 何毓灵. This abridged version is prepared by the author and translated into English by Paul Nicholas Vogt 侯昱文.
References
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© 2018 by Walter de Gruyter, Inc. · Boston · Berlin
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- New archaeological discoveries
- The Banlashan Cemetery of Hongshan Culture in Chaoyang City, Liaoning
- Surveys and excavations in 2014–2016 at Shijiahe Site in Tianmen City, Hubei
- The Imperial City Terrace Locality of the Shimao City Site in Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province
- The Jartai Pass Site in Nilka County, Xinjiang
- Reports
- The excavation of the Modaoshan Site of the Paleolithic Age in Yunan County, Guangdong
- The excavation of the Daxi Cultural remains at Dashuitian Site in Wushan County, Chongqing
- The excavation of the Wujiachang Cemetery in Fuquanshan Site, Shanghai in 2010
- The Shang burials at the Yangjiawan Locality of the Panlongcheng Site in Wuhan
- The excavation of burial M89 at Tiesan Road at the Yinxu Site in Anyang, Henan
- The excavation of the burial M8 at the Zhoujiazhai Cemetery in Suizhou, Hubei
- The recovering of the Qianfosi cliff sculptures in Tongnan County, Chongqing
- Research
- On the subsistence types of the Xiantouling Culture
- On the origin and formation of the early Qin Culture
- On the provenance study method of the archaeological relics based on styles and distributions
- Maitreya statues in the Southern Dynasties and the incarnation of Fu Dashi as Maitreya
- A preliminary research on the burials of the Mongol Khanate period and Yuan Dynasty in northern area
- The emergence and early utilization of domestic sheep in Xinjiang
- The development and formation of soldering technique on the bronze ritual vessel casting of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties
- Brief report on the laboratory archaeology of the tomb M1 at Dahekou
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- New archaeological discoveries
- The Banlashan Cemetery of Hongshan Culture in Chaoyang City, Liaoning
- Surveys and excavations in 2014–2016 at Shijiahe Site in Tianmen City, Hubei
- The Imperial City Terrace Locality of the Shimao City Site in Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province
- The Jartai Pass Site in Nilka County, Xinjiang
- Reports
- The excavation of the Modaoshan Site of the Paleolithic Age in Yunan County, Guangdong
- The excavation of the Daxi Cultural remains at Dashuitian Site in Wushan County, Chongqing
- The excavation of the Wujiachang Cemetery in Fuquanshan Site, Shanghai in 2010
- The Shang burials at the Yangjiawan Locality of the Panlongcheng Site in Wuhan
- The excavation of burial M89 at Tiesan Road at the Yinxu Site in Anyang, Henan
- The excavation of the burial M8 at the Zhoujiazhai Cemetery in Suizhou, Hubei
- The recovering of the Qianfosi cliff sculptures in Tongnan County, Chongqing
- Research
- On the subsistence types of the Xiantouling Culture
- On the origin and formation of the early Qin Culture
- On the provenance study method of the archaeological relics based on styles and distributions
- Maitreya statues in the Southern Dynasties and the incarnation of Fu Dashi as Maitreya
- A preliminary research on the burials of the Mongol Khanate period and Yuan Dynasty in northern area
- The emergence and early utilization of domestic sheep in Xinjiang
- The development and formation of soldering technique on the bronze ritual vessel casting of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties
- Brief report on the laboratory archaeology of the tomb M1 at Dahekou
