1969—1977年殷墟西区墓葬发掘报告

EXCAVATION OF THE YIN TOMBS IN THE WESTERN SECTION OF YIN-HSU, 1969-1977

一九六九年五月至一九七七年五月,我队配合安阳市的基本建设,在殷墟西区进行了大规模的钻探和发掘。在钻探近三十万平方米的范围内,发现了一千零三座殷代墓葬,五座殷代车马坑,二百余座战国至宋元时期的墓葬。其中有六十四座殷代墓和少数晚期墓葬,因被盗破坏或墓坑浸在水中,未能进行发掘以外,共发掘九百三十九座殷代墓葬,五座殷代车马坑,以及近二百座战国及以后的墓葬。本报告是这次发掘的九百三十九座殷代墓葬和五座车马坑的全部资料。战国至宋元时期的墓葬资料,将另文报导。

Between May 1969 and May 1977, a total of nine hundred thirty-nine tombs of the Yin Dynasty were excavated in the western section of Yin-hsu, Anyang.The tombs are mostly oblong shafts of a modest size and only five of them (Tombs Nos. 93, and 698-701) are provided with a tomb passage. Most of them contain either an outer coffin and/or a coffin or a mat. The dead is usually buried in an extended position, though there are also some prone or flexed burials. Seventeen of these tombs have yielded a total of thirty-eight human sacrifices. Others are buried with such animal sacrifices as the dog, horse, pig, goat and fish. Of these, the most popular is the dog as is evinced by the presence of a total of four hundred thirty-nine dogs in three hundred thirtynine tombs.Most of the dead are provided with tomb furniture which usually ranges in number from three to five, but in a few cases there are as many as over a dozen pieces. Among them are pottery vessels, bronzes, lead vessels, objects of jade, stone, boe and shell, and cowries. These include ceremonial vessels, objects of daily use, tools, weapons, ornaments and currency. But the most common are the pottery and small ornaments. The pottery is dominated by the ku-beaker and chueh-cup. Sixty-seven of these tombs are further provided with such ceremonial bronzes as the ku-beaker, chueh-cup, ting-tripod, and kueivessel and thirty-five of these bronzes are found to bear a pictographic inscription. The fact that the pictographic inscriptions found on the bronzes unearthed from a particular area of the cemetery are often similar seems to suggest that they are probably tribal insignias.On the basis of some common features evinced by the tomb furniture, as well as on the combination of tomb furniture and the stratigraphical relations between the tombs, the six hundred ninety-seven toms provided with tomb furniture may be assigned to three different stages. Thus, seventy-four of them belong to the second stage of Yin-hsu which corresponds to the latter part of the reign of King Wu-ting and the reigns of Kings Tsukeng, Tsu-chia and Lin-hsin. A hundred eighty-nine belong to the third stage of Yin-hsu which corresponds to the reigns of Kings K'ang-ting, Wu-i and Wen-ting while four hundred thirty-four belong to the fourth stage which corresponds to the reigns of Kings Ti-yi and Ti-hsin (cf. the general list of tombs appended at the end of the report).The distribution of the tombs, the characteristic features of the tomb furniture unearthed from various sections of the cemetery, and the presence of different tribal insignias on various objects all point to the existence of a certain tribal organization in the Yin society. These tombs probably represent the tribal cemeteries of several tribes with each group of tombs within a particular section of the cemetery belonging to a single family within the same tribe.The modest size of the tombs and their relatively poor tomb furniture suggest that most of the owners were probably commoners while others might have been slave owners of modest means.