Shangcunling

The site of a large early Eastern Chou cemetery near the city of Sanmenxia in Shan Xian, Honan province, China. Inscribed bronzes show that members of the royal family of Guo were buried here. Guo was a small state founded probably before the end of the Western Chou period (771 BC) and ending in 655 BC, when its territory was absorbed by the state of Jin. The cemetery includes well-preserved chariot burials and remarkably simple bronze ritual vessels.

[Shang-ts’un-ling]. Site of a large early Eastern Zhou cemetery excavated in 1956 and 1957 nearthecityofSanmenxiain Shan Xian, western Henan province, China. Inscribed bronzes show that members of the royal family of Guo were buried here. Guo was a small state founded perhaps before the end of the Western Zhou period (771 BC) and extinguished in 655 bc, when its territory was absorbed by the state of Jin. The latter date can apparently be taken as a terminus ante quem for the contents of the cemetery, which include well preserved chariot burials and remarkably impoverished bronze ritual vessels. Finer bronzes of the same period were unearthed in 1953 at Jia Xian Taipuxiang in central Henan.