The stays of quite a few wild animals in sacrificial pits have been unearthed within the royal mausoleum space of the Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan province, central China. Artifacts discovered within the burials point out the animals have been captive bred, not hunted. It’s the earliest identified assortment of captive animals in China, predating the beforehand accepted earliest examples discovered within the imperials tombs of the Qin and Han dynasty rulers by a thousand years.
The excavation revealed 19 small and medium-sized pits containing bones of various animals, together with: short-horned domesticated buffalo, deer, roe deer, wolves, leopards, foxes, serows, wild boars, porcupines, swans, cranes, geese, haws and eagles. What makes it clear that at the very least a portion of the animals have been saved and certain raised in captivity fairly than hunted for sacrifice is the invention of bronze bells worn round a number of of the animals’ necks. Twenty-nine bells have been present in 13 of the 19 pits.
Niu Shishan, the excavation mission chief and a researcher on the institute, sees a classy system at play. “The presence of such an enormous assortment of wildlife and the standardized therapy of those animals point out a well-established community for buying, breeding and managing wildlife again within the Shang Dynasty,” Niu stated.
By way of multidisciplinary analysis, the crew has unveiled the origins and husbandry practices of the animals discovered within the sacrificial pits. “This additional confirms the Shang Dynasty’s highly effective useful resource management and logistics attain,” Niu added.
The existence of quite a few animal sacrificial pits additionally reveals the extravaganza and complexity of the Shang royal households’ rituals, in addition to the sophistication of the animal sacrificial system of the dynasty, in line with Niu.
The excavation additionally uncovered massive sacrificial pits containing human, elephant, and horse skeletons. Horses have been probably the most quite a few, they usually have been positioned in every pit in even numbers. A few of the horse skulls had dents in the identical place, suggesting they have been subjected to the identical sacrificial ritual.
Established simply north of the modern-day Anyang within the early 14th century B.C., the traditional metropolis of Yin was the capital of the Shang dynasty, and the primary secure dynastic capital in Chinese language historical past. The presence of unique animal species not native to the realm within the royal tomb complicated attests to the vast attain of Shang dynasty commerce and its rulers wealth. The capital and dynasty have been destroyed in 1046 B.C. by Ji Wa, founding king of the Zhou dynasty.
