Yin Xu in Anyang
The archaeological site of Yin Xu, located in Anyang of Henan Province, is the capital city of the late Shang Dynasty. The site covers an area about 6 kilometers in length and width each, and the core protected zone measures 414 hectares. The discovery of Yin Xu ranks first among China's top 100 major archaeological finds in the 20th century. It testifies to the existence of the Shang Dynasty and reframes the early history of ancient China, adding evidenced credibility to the Shang history recorded in ancient literature.
The Yin Xu site consists of a number of royal tombs, palaces, and ancestral shrines with about 80 house foundations, the Huanbei Shang City site, and the Tomb of Fu Hao, which is the only well-preserved tomb of a Shang royal member. The large number and superb craftsmanship of the burial accessories found at Yin Xu bear testimony to the advanced crafts industry at the time. The Houmuwu square cauldron unearthed in the east of the royal burial ground is the heaviest bronze vessel discovered so far. Large quantities of oracle bones – roughly 150,000 pieces as of November 2022 – have also been found at Yin Xu, and the inscriptions on them are invaluable proofs of the ancient beliefs and social systems of China and the development of its writing system.
The Yin Xu site proves the existence of a golden age of early Chinese culture, crafts, and sciences, a time of great prosperity of the Chinese Bronze Age. In July 2006, it was included in the UNESCO's World Heritage List.
安陽殷墟
殷墟，位于河南省安陽市，是中國商朝后期都城遺址，長寬各約6千米，總面積約36平方千米，遺產(chǎn)地保護(hù)區(qū)核心面積414公頃。殷墟的發(fā)掘是20世紀(jì)中國“100項重大考古發(fā)現(xiàn)”之首，確證了中國商王朝的存在，重構(gòu)了中國古代早期歷史的框架，使傳統(tǒng)文獻(xiàn)記載的商朝歷史成為信史。
殷墟遺址主要包括殷墟王陵遺址、殷墟宮殿宗廟遺址、洹北商城遺址等，遺址中的宮殿宗廟區(qū)擁有80處房屋地基，還有唯一一座保存完好的商朝王室成員大墓“婦好墓”。殷墟出土的大量工藝精美的陪葬品證明了商朝手工業(yè)的先進(jìn)水平。在王陵遺址東邊出土的后母戊大方鼎，是迄今為止所發(fā)現(xiàn)的最重的青銅器。同時，在殷墟發(fā)現(xiàn)了大量甲骨窖穴。截至2022年11月，殷墟出土甲骨文大約有15萬片。甲骨上的文字對于證明中國古代信仰、社會體系以及漢字的發(fā)展有著不可估量的價值。
殷墟代表了中國早期文化、工藝和科學(xué)的黃金時代，是中國青銅器時代最繁榮的時期。2006年7月，安陽殷墟被列入聯(lián)合國教科文組織《世界遺產(chǎn)名錄》，成為世界人民共同的文化遺產(chǎn)。
