Hengbei Yu State Cemetery

　　  The Hengbei Yu State Cemetery is located about 1,000 meters north of Hengbei Village, Hengshui Town, approximately 11 kilometers west of the county seat of Jiang County. The cemetery stretches approximately 200 meters from north to south and about 175 meters from east to west, covering an area of around 35,000 square meters. From December 2004 to December 2007, the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology conducted large-scale excavations here. A total of 1,326 tombs were excavated, including 1,299 from the late early to late Western Zhou periods. Within the excavation area, 35 chariot-and-horse pits or horse-only pits dating to the Western Zhou were also discovered.

　　  Artifacts unearthed include bronze ware inscribed with the “Yu Bo” (Marquis of Yu) name, as well as “huangwei” (funerary canopies), mentioned in the pre-Qin text Rites of Zhou. There were also numerous bronze ritual and musical instruments such as ding (cauldrons), gui (food vessels), ?, pans, ?, li (tripod cauldrons), basins, gu (wine cups), jue (wine goblets), zhi (wine beakers), zun (wine vessels), hu (wine jars), you (wine vessels), fangyi (rectangular wine vessels), and bells. Pottery items included li, jars, dou (bean-shaped vessels), basins, gui, zun, hu, urns, bottles, and cups. Also found were proto-porcelain items such as dou, hu, and bottles, as well as lacquerware, jade and stone artifacts, shell artifacts, bead strings, bone tools, bronze chariot and horse fittings, bronze ornaments, bronze weapons (such as ge, spearheads, and arrowheads), among others.

　　  In 2004, it was designated as a municipal-level cultural relics protection unit by the Yuncheng Municipal People’s Government. In May 2013, it was listed as part of the seventh batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the State Council.