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Tianhu Cemetery

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Tianhu Cemetery is the burial site of the Xi state during the late Shang Dynasty in China. It is located in Tianhu Village, Xinyang, Henan Province, dating back to approximately the 13th to 11th centuries BCE. Excavations began in 1979. Eleven medium-sized tombs and eleven small tombs have been excavated, all of which are rectangular earthen pit vertical shaft tombs. The medium-sized tombs feature both coffins and outer coffins, with one even having a tomb passage. They were all buried with bronze ritual vessels such as ding, gu, jue, and jia, as well as bronze weapons including axes, dagger-axes, spears, and arrowheads, along with jade artifacts and a small number of pottery items. Among the grave goods are many fine cultural relics, such as the owl-handled you vessel from Tomb No. 11, which is covered in intricate patterns forming two owls back-to-back, with craftsmanship surpassing that of the bronze owl from the Fu Hao Tomb. The small tombs mostly contain pottery, with a few bronze weapons. These tombs date from the reign of King Wu Ding to King Zhou, with some possibly extending to the early Western Zhou period. The arrangement of the tombs is systematic, with those in the north being older than those in the south, and the medium-sized tombs distributed along the central axis of the cemetery. A total of 219 bronze artifacts were unearthed, 40 of which bear inscriptions, including 26 with the character “Xi.” Researchers believe this was the clan cemetery of the Xi state, a southern vassal state during the Shang Dynasty.

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Tianhu Cemetery

Tianhu Cemetery is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Tianhu Cemetery

This is the burial site of the Xi state during the late Shang Dynasty in China. It is located in Tianhu Village, Xinyang, Henan Province, dating back to approximately the 13th to 11th centuries BCE. Excavations began in 1979.

Eleven medium-sized tombs and eleven small tombs have been excavated, all of which are rectangular earthen pit vertical shaft tombs. The medium-sized tombs feature both coffins and outer coffins, with one even having a tomb passage. They were all buried with bronze ritual vessels such as ding, gu, jue, and jia, as well as bronze weapons including axes, dagger-axes, spears, and arrowheads, along with jade artifacts and a small number of pottery items. Among the grave goods are many fine cultural relics, such as the owl-handled you vessel from Tomb No. 11, which is covered in intricate patterns forming two owls back-to-back, with craftsmanship surpassing that of the bronze owl from the Fu Hao Tomb. The small tombs mostly contain pottery, with a few bronze weapons. These tombs date from the reign of King Wu Ding to King Zhou, with some possibly extending to the early Western Zhou period. The arrangement of the tombs is systematic, with those in the north being older than those in the south, and the medium-sized tombs distributed along the central axis of the cemetery. A total of 219 bronze artifacts were unearthed, 40 of which bear inscriptions, including 26 with the character “Xi.” Researchers believe this was the clan cemetery of the Xi state, a southern vassal state during the Shang Dynasty.

On October 7, 2019, Tianhu Cemetery was included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.