Bronze artifacts are some of the most common items found at Shang dynasty sites. Tomb M54 alone yielded a total of 265 bronze pieces. The ox wine-vessel is perhaps the most noteworthy of them, both for its degree of craftsmanship and meticulous detailing.

The lid and body of this piece were originally discovered in separate parts of the chamber, though the body was severely fragmented. Wang Haoyi, the technician who was tasked with restoring the item, had to retrieve and realign the fragments, piece by piece, replicate missing sections, and weld them back together to restore it to its present condition.

The vessel’s design is based on a specific species of wild water buffalo (Bubalus mephistopheles) that once thrived from China’s central plains to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Bones from these buffalo, now extinct, have been unearthed repeatedly at Yinxu.

The stone chime is the oldest known percussion instrument and ceremonial object in Chinese history. Resembling a square or rectangular stone slab, it produces clear, melodious tones when struck with a wooden mallet. The quality of the chime is influenced by the stone’s size, shape, and texture, as well as the force and location of the strike.

Stone chimes were commonplace by the late Shang. Fu Hao’s tomb alone yielded five such objects, and references to them can be found in oracle bone inscriptions from the Shang period.

This particular example is too fragile to produce sound. However, three bronze bells discovered nearby can still be played.

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Ye Shuxian, the head of the China Mythology Society and an expert in jade studies, has called “jade worship” a distinctive hallmark of Chinese civilization. Jade artifacts have been discovered in numerous Neolithic cultural sites, though the art reached maturity in terms of quantity, variety, and craftsmanship during the Hongshan and Liangzhu cultures, roughly 5,000 years ago.

Tomb M54 yielded 224 jade artifacts, second only to bronze artifacts in number. In Yinxu, jade artifacts are typically found in large tombs and graves belonging to royalty and nobility, with only a few pieces coming from the tombs of commoners. The number of jade pieces in M54 underscores the esteemed status its occupant would have enjoyed in life.

Like other artifacts unearthed from the tomb, this dagger exemplifies the advanced craftsmanship of the Shang dynasty. Shang craftsmen inherited and refined jade-carving techniques, meticulously selecting materials and expertly hollowing, drilling, and polishing their work. The resulting jade pieces feature intricate designs, balanced patterns, and meticulous detailing.

Of all the artifacts unearthed from Tomb M54, this solitary bronze hand remains the most puzzling. The reason is simple: In nearly a century of archaeology at Yinxu, nothing resembling it had ever been discovered before.  

What, then, was its function? Scholars remain divided. Some speculate it might be a bi — a vessel used to extract meat from cauldrons during ritual ceremonies. Others suggest it could be a scepter handle. There are even theories suggesting it might be one of the earliest examples of a back scratcher.  

According to He Yuling, the current team leader of the Anyang excavation team and a key member of the M54 excavation, the hand might possibly be a prosthetic limb. The tomb’s occupant was missing part of his arm, and the piece was discovered near the body. It is likely that the occupant lost his arm before his death, and thus, his descendants buried a bronze prosthetic limb with him, but whether it was ever used in life remains an open question.

“This is merely speculative,” He notes. “Archaeology often confronts us with many unsolved mysteries, and therein lies its allure.”

So, who exactly was the occupant of Tomb M54?  

This mystery, at least, seems relatively straightforward. A total of 131 bronze artifacts unearthed from M54, including the bronze ox vessel, bear inscriptions reading ya zhang or zhang. In the Shang dynasty, the character ya typically refers to a military officer responsible for commanding troops, while zhang would refer to the surname of a particular clan. Therefore, it is likely that the tomb’s occupant was a military leader from the Zhang clan, possibly the chieftain of its lineage.

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For our purposes, we’ll call him “General Zhang.”  

The substantial collection of weaponry discovered in Tomb M54, including seven bronze yue axes, further suggests General Zhang’s military background. (These axes carried important symbolic authority in ancient China, similar to the Roman fasces.) The largest of the axes, weighing 5.96 kilograms and adorned with intricate patterns, shows signs of wear, indicating it had been used in battle.

Modern scientific techniques offer additional clues. An isotopic analysis of strontium and oxygen in General Zhang’s bones suggests he was not from the region around Yinxu, but likely grew up more than 300 kilometers away. Close examination of the skeleton puts his age at around 35 years when he died.

That death was almost certainly unnatural. Archaeologists have identified seven distinct injuries on General Zhang’s skeletal remains, including three approximately 1-centimeter-long sharp cuts on his left upper arm, as well as distinct slashes on the front of his left rib and the rear of his thigh bone. The most severe injury was a piercing wound on the right side of his pelvis, which shows no signs of healing.

Curiously, embedded within Ya Zhang’s bones were numerous charred seeds of Zanthoxylum bungeanum , a type of Sichuan pepper. An aromatic shrub native to what is now southwestern China, the peppers were used not only in cooking, but also as a kind of perfume. But why was it present in his skeleton?

It is tempting to extrapolate the details of General Zhang’s life from the little we do know. He may have been a great warrior. Clad in armor and wielding a bronze axe, he might have led from the front until the day a spear pierced his abdomen. The ensuing struggle over his body could explain the bone-deep cuts on his left side. If so, his men won the fight, preventing him from being decapitated or dismembered, but they were unable to save his life. They could only return his corpse to the capital — using aromatics to counteract the mounting odor — where he was buried with great honors by the Shang king.

Perhaps. It’s likely we will never know for sure. General Zhang lay, undisturbed, for 3,000 years. He seems in no rush to give up his secrets now.