Recent Archaeological Discoveries on the Yinxu Xiaomintun Site in Anyang and Related Problems

Abstract

It was in 1928 that the Yin Ruins (Yinxu) began to be excavated scientifically. During the past 70-odd years archaeologists have carried out some one hundred scientific excavations in various areas of Yinxu. They have revealed the then palace and ancestral temple, royal mausoleum, handicraft workshop and kin graveyard quarters. These vestiges include the palace and ancestral temple area centered on Xiaotun, the royal mausoleum and sacrificial area centered on Xibeigang, the bronze foundry-sites represented by Locus North of Miaopu and Locus West of Xiaomintun, the bone artifact workshops represented by Beixinzhuang and Renjiazhuang, the jade-working places represented by Xiaotun, and the oracle shell and bone stores represented by Locus South of Xiaotun and Locus East of Huayuanzhuang. Within the Yin Ruins that occupy about 30km, archaeologists have excavated more than ten thousands of contemporaneous tombs and brought to light quantities of objects, such as bronzes, inscribed oracle shells and bones, jades, bone artifacts and pottery vessels of royal and the common people’s use. The discovered vestiges and objects provided direct evidence for studying the social organization and structure, the form of living and technology of production in the Yinxu period. Xiaomintun is located on the border of the Yin Ruins, and, along with its vicinity, has a good foundation of archaeological work. In the 1950s, the Anyang Archaeological Team, IA, CASS carried out archaeological excavation to the west and north of the village, and discovered weapon molds and other remains related to bronze foundry to the west. In 1969 to 1977, they excavated above 900 Shang tombs and five horse-and-chariot burial pits and over 200 tombs of the Warring States period and after to the south of the village, i.e. in the socalled famous “burial ground of western Yinxu.” In 2000, they brought to light molds for casting ritual bronzes and fragments of melting furnaces about 300 m southeast of Xiaomintun Village. In April 2003, according to the idea of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, with the coordination of the Henan Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, the Institute of Archaeology, CASS and the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology organized jointly our Yinxu Xiaomintun Archaeological Team to carried out archaeological excavation on the Xiaomintun site. We divided the excavation area into the northern and southern areas. The drilling data show that in the northern area, in addition to modern tombs, there is a large spot of ancient cultural remains, which spreads also in the middle part. The recorded vestiges include tombs, ash-pits, cellars and rammed-earth building-foundations. In the southern area, the northern part is main a burial ground, while the southern part is a district of densely distributed tombs, house-foundations, ash-pits and cellars, and pottery molds and other objects concerned with bronze foundry were collected from the ground at many localities. Based on the results of previous archaeological excavations in the Xiaomintun area, as well as those of a preliminary drilling and the first resurvey, the academic