Site of the capital city of the late Shang Dynasty

Location: Anyang, Henan Province

Period: 1250-1050 BC

Excavated: from 1928 to the present.

Significance: The excavations of Yin Ruins have provided rich and crucial materials for the study of the history of the late Shang Dynasty.

 Introduction

Yin Ruins is the capital city's ruins of the late Shang Dynasty, which controlled China from 1300 BC to 1046 BC. The total area is about 24 square kilometers. Yin Ruins is the key cultural relics unit under the government's protection.

The oracle bone inscriptions were found at the site; Ivory cup inlaid with turquoise: wine vessel (up, height 30.5 cm); Bronze zun in the shape of owl: wine vessel (bottom, height 46 cm); Oracle bone inscriptions: (in the background)

Yin Ruins enjoys a high reputation because of its unique styled and large-scale palace construction and its grandest mausoleums. After 60 years of archaeological excavations, starting in the 1920s, the ruins of palaces, temples, workshops, tombs and sacrificial pits have been found in this site.

The existence of the site was verified by inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells (the oracle bones) unearthed in nearby Xiaotun Village in 1899. Over 150,000 oracle inscriptions, including over 5,000 different characters have been excavated in the Ruins. These characters are the oldest ever found in China. Unearthed relics also include a large number of oracle bone inscriptions, delicate bronze ware, jade and ivory articles, production tools and articles for daily use. The most famous among them is the Simuwu Tripod, the largest piece of bronze ware relic of that time ever found in the world, weighing 875 kg. It shows the high level of craftsmanship and economic and cultural development of the late Shang Dynasty. 

The late Shang Dynasty, which made Yin Ruins as its capital, was China's first dynasty with written historic record and proved by oracle. Its significant value in history, science, art and culture is well known and has profound influences.