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Abstract During the Late Shang Period, texts or images depicting noblemen in detail have rarely been unearthed. At the same time, Late Shang tomb builders did not replicate domestic architecture or life (or afterlife) scenes within elite burials, as was common since the Warring States Period. Thus, former studies on Late Shang nobility mainly focus on interpreting elite practices recorded in divination texts through modern categories of social interaction, and remain “etic” while failing to reveal the figure of the Late Shang nobleman in a holistic and culturally intrinsic manner. This paper analyzes the spatial distribution of grave goods in elite burials, reveals the meticulous arrangements across multiple concentric burial divisions from the inner coffin to the tomb passages, and interprets the various ritual themes represented in each division. In this way, the paper offers an “emic” approach by studying the idealized figures of noblemen expressed in the mortuary practices by the ancients.
The jade artifacts within the coffin can be categorized into three spheres: burial jades, ornamental jades, and ritual jades. Burial jades, placed within or on the surface of the body, served to enhance the vitality of the mortal soul. Ornamental jades worn by the deceased symbolized their dignity and decency during ceremonial occasions. Ritual jades, placed outside the shrouds, represented the authority and virtues of the deceased, which were essential for sanctifying sacrificial offerings in rituals.
The grave goods between the inner and outer coffins include bronze and ceramic vessels in the inner sphere, and bronze weapons and musical instruments in the outer sphere. The spatial distribution of these items reveals deliberate spatial planning strategies. Food vessels were grouped separately from wine and water vessels, each placed deliberately according to their specific types and ritual functions. The former were classified into storage vessels, cooking vessels, and containers, centered around the large ding tripods. The latter were classified into brewing vessels, storage vessels, wine warmers, drinking vessels, and cleansing vessels. The inclusion of jade artifacts within the wine and water vessel groups, along with the pairing of bronze Gu with food containers, suggests that the ritual scenes depicted included sacrificial offerings of wine and meat intended to summon the spirits of deceased ancestors.
The large quantity of bronze weapons in elite burials reflects the extensive military power held by the tomb owners during their lifetime. The most valuable weapons are typically placed upright near the head, symbolizing the owner holding a commanding weapon in their right hand to issue orders. Musical instruments, placed alongside the weapons, hint at a ritual and functional correlation between them. Archaeological and contemporary textual evidences suggest that the bronze weapons represented not only themes of warfare, but also music and dance re-enacting warfare together with musical instruments. Chariots were placed farthest from the body of the deceased, often found on second-tier platforms or tomb passages, symbolizing the theme of travel.
Thus, the grave goods in Yinxu elite burials represented a series of ritual themes: from physical vitality, to dignity and decency, to ritual morality, to sacrificial and feasting scenes, to warfare and the ceremonial display of which, and finally to traveling by chariot. This suggests that an ideal Late Shang nobleman was one around whom ritual networks of various scales, passaging from sacrificial rites to warfare, were organized in an integrated manner. The symbolic ideology of Yinxu elite burials, which can be encapsulated as “make abundant use of semblances of the person’s life to send him off in death”, served as the ideological foundation for mortuary hierarchy systems in ancient China, through which we may establish a more nuanced mortuary archaeological approach beyond the processual and post-processual paradigms.
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Published: 22 April 2026
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