Pages: 409-438

The paper presents a new approach to the question of the interaction between the steppe region and central China. The paper argues that prone burials and animal-headed knives, discovered at the site of Anyang, the last capital of the Shang dynasty (c.1300—1045 BC), demonstrate contact with present-day southern Mongolia. Prone burials were not characteristic of the Central Plains. They have been identified at Ulanzurh-Tevsh. Chance finds of bronze animal-headed knives and ornaments from the same area can be compared with similar items from the hoard at Chaodaogou in Hebei province, finds from the Northern Zone embracing the Great Bend of the Yellow River and Anyang. The paper provides an analysis of the range of burials in which skeletons in the prone posture have been found. The wide range of examples demonstrates that such individuals, presumably regarded as outsiders, occupied different positions in Shang society. At Anyang, animal-headed knives, primarily copies, have been found in different contexts, including royal tombs and chariot burials. The primary concentration of such animal-headed bronzes appears to be in the Northern Zone, thus not far from southern Mongolia. The paper records finds of such knives and prone burials in the Northeast, where such knives are frequent, but prone burials rare. In the Northwest, the knives are rare, except for some chance finds, but a few prone burials have been recorded in Qinghai.

Keywords: China, Shang dynasty, Mongolia, Bronze Age, steppe interactions, prone burials, animal-headed weapons

Information about authors:

Konstantin Chugunov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). State Hermitage Museum. Dvortsovaya Emb., 34, Saint Petersburg, 191181, Russian Federation.
E-mail: [email protected]
Jessica Rawson (Oxford, Great Britain). DLitt, Professor. School of Archaeology, University of Oxford. Merton College, Merton Street, OX1 4JD, Oxford, UK.
E-mail: [email protected]
Yegor Grebnev (Shenzhen, China). DPhil. Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts, Southern University of Science and Technology. 1088 Xueyuan Bd., Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, P.R. China.
E-mail: [email protected]