The Subutun Tomb Cluster

The Subutun Tomb Cluster

The Subutun Tomb Cluster is a cultural heritage site protected by Shandong Province.

A large-scale late Shang Dynasty cemetery with a small number of Han Dynasty tombs. Located on the Dongbuling hill of Subutun in Dongxia Town, Qingzhou City. The tomb cluster stretches approximately 1,000 meters from east to west and about 2,000 meters from north to south, covering a total area of around 2 million square meters. The central part is about 5 meters higher than the surrounding ground. Due to years of soil extraction, a low-lying area about 150 meters wide and extending from east to west has formed in the middle-south part of the hill, dividing the earth mound into a southern and a northern section. Exposed tombs can be seen on the cliff faces on both sides of the depression.

Around 1920, Chen Jun, a villager from the village, unearthed an unusually shaped bronze artifact on the southern hill. Around 1926, Yang Mingxi, another villager, excavated three to four bronze items on the northern hill, including a large bronze ding (tripod) with inscriptions on its base. All these bronzes were purchased by antique dealers and their whereabouts remain unknown. In April 1931, Chen Xiuzhi, a local villager, dug out eight bronze artifacts from the western cliff face on the central part of the southern hill. These were later bought by Guo Xusan, the then magistrate of Yidu County, and handed over to the county’s public education center. In 1936, Qi Yanpei from the Institute of History and Philology of the former Academia Sinica investigated and documented the two instances of bronze artifact discoveries in 1931 at Subutun. The finds included ding (tripods), jue (wine cups), zhi (goblets), gu (wine vessels), jiao (horn-shaped vessels), weapons, and more.

Between 1965 and 1966, the Shandong Provincial Museum conducted the first scientific excavation of the Subutun Tomb site. Near the western cliff edges of the southern and northern hills, four Shang tombs and one chariot-and-horse pit were cleared. In the spring of 1986, the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology excavated five more Shang tombs and three Han tombs. Among the nine Shang tombs, there was one large "ya" character-shaped tomb with four ramps, designated as Tomb 1. There were also three medium-sized tombs with single ramps in the shape of the "jia" character, while the rest were rectangular earthen pit tombs with layered platforms. The small Tombs 7 and 8 excavated in 1986 were well-preserved. Over 80 bronze containers were unearthed, including ding (tripods), fangding (square tripods), gu (wine vessels), jue (wine cups), zhi (goblets), zun (wine jars), xian (wine vessels), gui (food vessels), jiao (horn-shaped vessels), and lei (vessels), among others. Nearly 200 small bronze weapons such as pottery ware, axes, spears, halberds, and arrowheads were also found. The other tombs had been looted in earlier times, leaving only fragments of bronze ware, small bronze weapons, and broken pottery.

Tomb 1 is rectangular, measuring 15 meters in length from north to south, 10.7 meters in width from east to west, and 8.25 meters in depth. It features two-layered earthen platforms on the east, west, and north sides, and four ramps, with the main southern ramp being 26.1 meters long and 2.7 to 3.2 meters wide, sloping down to the tomb bottom. The other three ramps connect with the two-layer platforms, though their extended parts have been damaged. At the center of the tomb chamber lies a wooden “ya” character-shaped coffin chamber, with maximum lengths of 4.55 meters from both east to west and north to south, and a depth of 2 meters. In the center of the coffin chamber is a “ding” character-shaped waist pit, consisting of a square pit and a rectangular pit, with a dog skeleton found in the square pit. Also present were a pottery jar and a pottery basin. The rectangular pit contained the remains of one person buried alive, with a post (now decayed) beside the head—likely a wooden stake used to tether the individual during the live burial. Slightly northwest and below the waist pit lies a square foundation pit with sides of 1.8 to 1.9 meters and a depth of 3 meters. At the bottom of this pit was the remains of one person buried facing north in a kneeling position. On the second-layer platforms on the east and west sides of the coffin chamber, there are three pits containing the remains of seven individuals, all with wooden coffins. Some also had accompanying ornaments, likely indicating they were trusted individuals of the tomb owner. In the passageway between the southern wall of the coffin chamber and the ramp, there were five dogs, one small animal, and 39 humans buried as sacrifices, with 13 individuals in the third layer being children. Most of the sacrificial individuals were reduced to skulls and a few cervical vertebrae, indicating they were killed for the burial. Some skeletons bore traces of cinnabar or rope marks. All burial objects inside the coffin chamber had been looted, but most of the remaining artifacts came from the sacrificial pits. A total of 182 restorable or identifiable artifacts made of bronze, pottery, jade, stone, and bone were recovered, along with 14 pieces of gold foil and 3,790 cowrie shells. Two large horizontally placed bronze axes were found in the fill soil near the tomb’s northern wall and close to the ramp entrance. Their wooden handles had decayed, and their bodies were openwork-carved with grimacing human faces. One of them bore the “Ya Chou” inscription on both sides.

The structure of the tombs and the two massive bronze axes indicate that the tomb owner was a figure of high status, likely a regional leader or lord ranking just below the Shang king. The bronze artifacts unearthed over the years feature elegant designs, exquisite craftsmanship, and styles almost identical to those of late Shang Dynasty bronzes from Yinxu. Many of them bear inscriptions of one to four characters, with the “Ya Chou” mark being the most prominent. Among the 15 inscribed bronze artifacts unearthed in the spring of 1986, aside from two “Ya Chou” items, the other 13 all featured the “Chou” emblem.

Dongxia Town: "Dongxia Town is located 10 kilometers north of Qingzhou City. It borders the Jiaoji Railway to the south, the Jiqing Expressway to the north, the Donghong Expressway to the west, and is traversed by National Highway 309 and Yanglin Road. The town enjoys a superior geographical location and very convenient transportation. It governs 90 administrative villages, with a total population of 63,000 and covers an area of 99 square kilometers, including 98,000 mu of arable land."

Dongxia Town has a well-structured agricultural sector, having developed six major pillar industries: ginger, melons and vegetables, grain, bottle gourd, fruit, and animal husbandry. It has established 30,000 mu of ginger fields, 20,000 mu of melon and vegetable fields, 5,000 mu of bottle gourd fields... More detailed information about Dongxia Town ++

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Shandong Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units