Anyang

A city in the Honan province of China that was the last capital of the Shang (Yin) Dynasty, occupied in the 12th and 11th centuries BC. It was founded c 14 BC and overthrown by the Chou in 1027 BC and was the seat of 12 kings who ruled for 273 years, a time referred to as the historical Anyang period. Anyang is one of the most extensively excavated sites, beginning in 1928. The buildings had rammed earth floors and many sacrifices of men and animals and chariot burials were found under them. Deep storage pits held oracle bones with inscriptions in an archaic form of Chinese, but the most important finds came from the cemeteries, which included royal tombs. At least as early as the Song dynasty (960--1279), Anyang was known as a source of bronze ritual vessels. Very large cruciform shaft tombs were found near the village of Houjiazhuang. There were eight large tombs in the western part of the Xibeigang cemetery and five more in the east. Excavation has shown that rows of satellite burials in the eastern section were not laid down at the time of the royal entombments but instead were later sacrifices offered to the tombs' occupants; these burials correspond with the oracle texts descriptions of victims sacrificed, sometimes by the hundreds, to the reigning king's ancestors. The only intact royal tomb yet discovered is that of Fu Hao, which is not in the Xibeigang cemetery but across the river at Xiatoun. Later excavations have established that Anyang was heir to the flourishing civilization of the Erligang Phase.

[An-yang]. A city in Henan province in North China, near the site of the last capital of the Shang or Yin dynasty. The site is sometimes referred to as Yinxu, the Waste of Yin, an ancient name for the abandoned capital. At least as early as the Song dynasty (960-1279) Anyang was known as a source of bronze ritual vessels prized by antiquarians. At the beginning of the 20th century archaeologists were led there by the discovery that oracle bones found by local farmers carried inscriptions in an archaic form of Chinese. The inscriptions secured the identification of the site as the last Shang capital; according to later texts this capital was the seat of 12 kings who ruled for 273 years, a time referred to as the historical Anyang period (C1300-1030 bc on the short chronology; see Shang). Excavations at Anyang begun in 1928 have continued under the direction of the Academia Sinica to the present day. The Anyang remains are distributed over a large area divided by the Huan River, which has eroded parts of the site. No city wall has been found (see Zhengzhou). South of the river at Xiaotun were excavated the hangtu foundations of large buildings and a few associated sacrificial burials, including chariot burials. Very large cruciform shaft tombs were found north of the river at Xibeigang near the village of Houjiazhuang. Because of their size these are assumed to be royal tombs, but all had been stripped by robbers before excavation. There were eight large tombs in the western part of the Xibeigang cemetery and five more in the east (north of the village of Wuguancun). Careful excavation has shown that rows of satellite burials in the eastern section were not laid down at the time of the royal entombments but instead represent later sacrifices offered periodically to the tombs’ occupants; these burials correspond precisely with mentions in the oracle texts of victims sacrificed, sometimes by the hundred, to the reigning king’s ancestors. The only intact royal tomb yet discovered is that of Fu Hao, which is not in the Xibeigang cemetery but across the river at Xiaotun. The first excavations at Anyang were an unexpected revelation of the antiquity of Chinese civilization. For some years, while Anyang was the only Shang site known, scholars were puzzled by the unheralded appearance of this literate and sophisticated Bronze Age culture, already at a pinnacle of wealth and achievement. Excavations since 1950, however, have established that Anyang was heir to the flourishing civilization of the Erligang phase, and the study of Chinese Bronze Age origins now centres on earlier periods and other sites.