From China's Past: The Secrets of the Shang

“Powerful.” “Mysterious.” “Bloody.” Those are the words that tend to come to mind when Chinese are asked about the Shang — an ancient dynasty that ruled China’s Central Plains for over 500 years until its sudden collapse in the 11th century BC.

But for the archaeologists excavating the dynasty’s last capital, Yinxu, in what is today the central Chinese province of Henan, the Shang is like an ever-shifting puzzle. Every answer dug out of the earth seems to bring with it more questions. Nearly 100 years after the first excavations began, experts estimate only 5% of the capital has been uncovered.

That’s not for lack of trying. Yinxu is for all intents and purposes the “holy land” of Chinese archaeology. Some of the country’s best-known archaeologists have left their mark at the site, from Dong Zuobin’s pioneering digs in the 1920s — sometimes referred to as the birth of modern Chinese archaeology — to Zheng Zhenxiang’s discovery of the intact tomb of warrior-queen Fu Hao in the 1970s.

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