The Tomb of Fu Hao

Fu Hao was a queen of the Shang Dynasty who lived around 1200 BC; her tomb was excavated in 1976. Her tomb was in the middle of a large royal cemetery but seems to have been covered over by the excavation of larger tombs nearby and thus never looted. The similarity to Tutankhamun's tomb, which was also hidden by the excavation of a grander tomb just above it, besides their having lived in the same era, has led to her sometimes being called the Chinese Tutankhamun. The tomb was identified as hers because several objects have her name on them.

Oracle bone from the reign of Wu Ding

Fu Hao is not mentioned in Chinese chronicles but she appears on several surviving oracle bones. Texts on these bones record that she was one of the three chief wives of King Wu Ding. (He had 64 in all.) The king's wives mainly came from other kingdoms, and there is a theory that Fu Hao was born on the steppes among warrior nomads. Oracle bone inscriptions are obscure, gnomic records, and this is early in the history of Chinese script, so their interpretation is very much disputed. According to the usual online sources, these oracle bones record that Fu Hao was ordered by the king to perform the oracle bone rite herself, and to sacrifice to his ancestors. Both of these tasks were usually undertaken by male priests. 

Weirder still, inscriptions describe her as commanding armies and winning a major battle over an enemy called the Tufang with whom the Shang had fought for generations. You may be thinking that this has to be some kind of misunderstanding, but Fu Hao's tomb contained 130 weapons, including the ax above. These were 1) extremely rare in the tombs of women, and 2) the same kind and quantity as found in the tombs of other generals. 

Bronze ax and jade dagger from the tomb

So, Fu Hao was quite an unusual character.

Excavating the tomb

She was buried with sixteen slaves and six dogs, which seems to be about normal for a senior queen of that era.

Love this jade phoenix.

Wikipedia lists the contents of her tomb as follows:

• 755 jade objects
• 564 bone objects (including 500 hairpins and 20 arrowheads)
• 468 bronze objects, including over 200 ritual bronze vessels, 130 weapons, 23 bells, 27 knives, 4 mirrors, and 4 tiger statues
• 63 stone objects
• 11 pottery objects
• 5 ivory objects
• 6,900 cowry shells

Quite a pile of loot. Several of the jade objects were centuries old before they went into this tomb, which nobody really understands. Were they novelty items, or were they considered the relics of a lost age of heroes? More goodies below.