Urban civilization
Bronze metallurgy
Enormous tombs with human sacrifices
Horse-drawn chariots
Mature writing system
Shang capital of Yin in received writings?
Inner city
50 large buildings
Outskirts
Artisan’s workshops
Semi-subterranean farmers’ houses
Identify site as “Great Settlement Shang”
Cow scapula
Turtle plastron
What was the purpose of this writing?
How did the Shang kings and priests practice divination?
According to Rawson in “Chap. 3: The Warrior with the Bronze Hand,” what is the nature of Shang tombs?
How were the tombs constructed?
How were burials arranged?
Massive Pit Tombs
Satellite graves
Human and animal sacrifices
Vertical pits with 1-4 ramps
Wooden structure at pit bottom
Human and animal sacrifices
Death attendants
*Lady (Fu) Hao's tomb, ca. 1200 BCE
Wife of King Wu Ding
Buried under temple in palace area
755 jade objects
468 bronze objects
63 stone objects
5 ivory objects
564 bone objects
11 pottery objects
6,900 pieces of cowry shells
Enormous increase in output
According to Rawson, how did Shang bronzes differ from earlier ones from West and Central Asia? (ch. 3, pp. 71-75) What types of designs were on the bronzes? What was unique about Shang bronze casting?
Casting method (Hansen, p. 33)
Controversies over origins of casting
Seima-Turbino Culture, 2200-1700 BCE
Cast bronze spearheads
Shimao City (2300-1800 BCE)
Molds for bronze knives
Erlitou, Erligang, and Shang Anyang (1900-1045 BCE)
New mold technology
Ceremonial vessels
Animal motifs (Vessels from Lady Hao’s tomb in Hansen, p. 32)
Taotie face
Rare humans
Vessel found in Hunan (Hansen, p. 27)
Weapons, instruments, chariot fittings
What is her thesis about his origins? What is her evidence?
Wagon invented in W. Asia, ca. 3300-3100 BCE
Wagon tracks discovered at Chinese Erlitou sites
Dated ca. 1900-1600 BCE
Pulled by ox or person?
*Chariot and horse domestication in Inner Asia
Invented, ca. 2100 BCE
Andronovo spread widely by 1500 BCE
Fortified settlements
Agro-pastoral economy
Bronze
chariot
34 kg (1/20th weight of war cart)
Narrow gauge
8-12 spokes
Military values: Speed, Frees hands
Route of transmission east to Shang is unknown
Closest sites in modern Xinjiang
Appears at Anyang fully formed with horses, 1200 BCE
Resembles Inner Eurasian chariots
18-26 spokes
Axle under middle of box
Prestige vs. war vehicle in Shang times, ca. 1200 BCE
Modern analogies: Rolls Royce vs. tank (Rawson, p. 82)