Zhengzhou Relics of Shang Dynasty, China

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Relics of Shang Dynasty

The Relics of Shang Dynasty is located in the suburb of Zhengzhou, a city of Henan Province. The area is the ancient city of Zhengzhou. In 1961, it became one of the important preservations of cultural relics of the State.

Archaeologists determined that this ancient site is about 3,500 years old, and is from the early Shang Dynasty (1401~1122B.C.), it was an important discovery.

The area is about 25 square kilo miles and the city is in the center of the relic. The city is rectangle and 7 kilo miles long. Today, the highest portion of the remained city is 5 meters and a 32 meters wall.

There is a stand in the northeast of the city, which is about 2,000 square meters. Around the stand, there are relics like bronze and jade adorning, so we know that noble men of Shang Dynasty once lived here. The frames and caves of columns are still clearly visible today. From these, we can speculate the scale of the palace in Shang Dynasty.

More than 100 human skulls, some sawed into the shape of a bowl, were found in a deep ditch of the palace. People also discovered eight caves of dog sacrifice, dog and human bones were both found in the caves. Both the ditch and the caves show that those were the places of sacrifice in Shang Dynasty.

There are also frames, basements, wells and vessels made up of bronze, stone, bone, clam, jade, pottery and original porcelains. On some of the pottery and bone vessels, there are signs and characters carved by ancient people.

Outside the city, there are many sites for maker of crafts, residences of common people and areas of tombs. Different republics produced different things: bronze, pottery, and bone productions. Archaeologists also found many royal vessels at west and southeast of the city. Among them, there is a 100cm high and 86.4 kg in weight Duling bronze tripod. For people of today, the tripod is one of the most valuable bronze relics in the world.

From all the items found here, exports estimate this site is older than Yinxu, another relics of Shang Dynasty discovered in City of Anyang in Henan Province. From the relics, we know about the scale of this ancient city in the period of its slave society.

Meanwhile, from the colorful pottery, inscription on the bones and the signs and characters found on it, can help determine and study the ancient Chinese culture. When scholars study the development of history and evolution of ancient civilization, this relics has given important information.

Shang Dynasty was founded in 1401 BC and ended in 1122 BC. King Pan Geng settled the capital in Hao City, and called the Dynasty "Shang". "Yin-Shang Period" was the years when the Shang Dynasty dominated the Center of China.