Chapter 14 Section 5 The Cemetery of the Great Shang and Zhou Aristocrats in Qianzhang, Tengzhou, Shandong

From October to December 1994, an aristocratic cemetery from the late Shang Dynasty to the early Western Zhou Dynasty was excavated at the Qianzhang Site in Tengzhou, Shandong.This time, 11 tombs, two pits for martyrdom, one sacrificial facility and one well were cleaned up.Among them are three large tombs (M11, M18, M21).They are all shaft tombs in earth pits.The burial utensils are one coffin and one coffin, and a two-story platform of cooked clay is set up.The entrance and the bottom of the tomb are trapezoidal.The owner of the tomb is sprinkled with cinnabar on the body and under the body, and there is a waist pit for a dog sacrificed underneath.

Tomb No. 11 is 3.8 meters long from north to south, 1.96-2.06 meters wide from east to west, and 3.34 meters deep.The outer coffin is well-shaped, and the bottom of the coffin is covered with fine sand.There are 10 bronze helmets placed on the second-story platform on the north side of the tomb, which are large in number and special in shape.On the second-floor platform on the east side, there is a martyr, with his limbs bent sideways and his hands tied behind his back.The head and waist are buried with ornaments.On the second-floor platform on the west side, three red and black lacquered oval shields, two red and black lacquered plaques, and one wooden frame utensil are placed.There are also copper helmets, pottery, tortoise shells and so on.On the second-floor platform on the south side, there is also an oval utensil with red and black paint, which seems to be a shield.

Funerary objects: Bronze wares include round tripod, square tripod, 罍, Tiliang You, Tiliang pot, Zun, Gou (zhizhi), zhu, 盉, gui, 甗, plate, goblet, jue, horn, helmet, knife, dagger and Bronze arrowheads and some lacquerware.Among them, there are inscriptions cast on the tripod, you, zhi, jue and horn vessels.There is liquid in the 罍 and Tiliang You, which may be wine at that time, which is really rare. On the east side of the coffin, there are 23 bronze ge, and on the west side, there are copper ge, spears, arrowheads, tortoise shells, bone carvings, etc.On the north side of the coffin, there are jade huang, jade ornaments, jade pieces, jade cones, turquoise, bone tools, and stone tools.Among them, the jade huang is hollowed out and carved with dragons on both sides, which is really a fine art.

In tomb No. 18, the owner of the tomb is leaning forward and bending his limbs.There are more than 60 burial bronze vessels, including 13 bronze ritual vessels.A liquid (possibly wine) was also contained in the two-piece beam jug.There is a funeral car on the platform on the second floor.This kind of burial method of burying cars in the tomb was discovered for the first time in the early archeology from the Shang Dynasty to the Western Zhou Dynasty in Shandong. In Tomb No. 21, more than 50 bronze vessels were buried, including 14 ritual bronze vessels, some of which bear inscriptions.There are also a group of jade wares, ivory cups, lacquer beans, lacquer tables, and lacquer plaque decorations.It is worth noting that on the southwest side of the platform on the second floor in the tomb, there is a large tortoise (65 cm long and 60 cm short), which is really rare in tombs of the same period.

The excavation of these tombs unearthed precious cultural relics such as bronze ware, lacquer ware, and jade ware.It is unprecedented in Shang and Zhou archaeology in Shandong.It provides complete material materials for the study of the history, culture and burial system of Xue State during the Shang and Zhou dynasties.