China News Service, Taiyuan, March 9 (Gao Yuqing and Hu Jian) ​​The Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology released new archaeological discoveries on the 9th. Local archaeologists discovered two Shang Dynasty tombs in Lishi District, Luliang City, Shanxi Province, one of which was from Shanxi Province. The Shang Dynasty tombs with the most martyrs, the largest scale and the highest level were found on both sides of the Yellow River in the plateau. Judging from the size of the tombs, the owner of the tomb is likely to be the highest-level aristocrat of the indigenous group.

The picture shows the burn marks on the upper part of the M32 coffin.

Photo courtesy of Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology

  From April to June 2020, in order to cooperate with the construction of the National Highway 209 line re-routing project, the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology and the Lvliang Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology jointly conducted archaeological excavations on 38 ancient tombs discovered within the land use area, of which 36 were During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, there are only two Shang Dynasty tombs in the southwest part of the cemetery, numbered M32 and M21 respectively.

The picture shows a bronze short sword unearthed from the Tomb of the Later Shishang Dynasty.

Photo courtesy of Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology

  A total of 51 pieces (groups) of bronze, pottery, bone, shell, and mussels were unearthed in M32, including 39 sea shells (shell coins), 3 clam shells and bone rings, bronze daggers, turquoise tubes, mussel ornaments, A pottery pot, a pottery pot, and a fragment of a three-legged pottery urn each.

The picture shows the artifacts unearthed from the Tomb of the Later Shishang—a pottery pot.

Photo courtesy of Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology

  It is worth noting that the pottery pots, pottery pots, and three-legged urns, these three pieces of pottery and bronze daggers, are all unique in shape, and comparable types of utensils are relatively rare.

Among them, the hollow hilt of the bronze dagger and the style of the willow-shaped spear body show the strong atmosphere of the northern grassland culture.

At present, there are two pieces that are closest in shape to them, both collected in the Yakut region in northeastern Russia.

The unique shape of this type of bronze sword was discovered for the first time in China.

The picture shows the utensils unearthed from the Tomb of the Later Shishang - pottery pots.

Photo courtesy of Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology

  According to reports, the owner of the tomb was located above the coffin cover when found, and the skull and upper limb bones were severely disturbed, leaving a large area of ​​cinnabar traces under his body.

Archaeologists also found 6 martyrs in the tomb.

Among them, 2 were adult females, aged between 20 and 35; 1 was a child, aged about 10; 1 was an unknown gender, aged 18-25; 1 was a male, aged 15 Between the ages of 20 and 20; one was an adult male between the ages of 25 and 30.

The picture shows the utensils unearthed from the Tomb of the Later Shishang - pottery pots.

Photo courtesy of Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology

The picture shows the artifacts unearthed from the Houshishang Tomb - sea shells.

Photo courtesy of Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology

  Zhao Hui, the head of the archaeological project and the deputy research librarian of the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, introduced that from the current archaeological findings, M32 is the Shang Dynasty tomb with the most martyrs, the largest scale and the highest level found on both sides of the Yellow River in the Shanxi Plateau. The existence of violent destruction of tombs, such as the obvious traces of fire in the upper part of the chamber and the severe disturbance of the tomb owner, reveals the complex political situation in the multicultural background of the region; It provides new enlightenment, and the unearthed bronze short sword of special shape also refreshes the previous understanding, which is an important breakthrough in the Shang Dynasty archaeology on the Shanxi-Shaanxi Plateau in recent years.

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