World Atlas Core Records · War

Yinxu / Anyang

c. 1250-1046 BCE · China

Palace, workshop, tomb and oracle-bone evidence at Anyang illuminates late Shang kingship, warfare, craft and an early stage of Chinese writing.

Back to World Atlas Core Records Show on world timeline

AI-generated evidence-guided visualization related to Yinxu / Anyang, c. 1250-1046 BCE. — Non-graphic AI-generated visualization based on the cited record and period context; it omits sacrifice, captives and burials and is not documentary evidence or an authenticated reconstruction of a single event.

How the setting appeared

Pounded-earth foundations, timber halls, roads, workshops, pits and royal cemeteries occupied a river plain.

Agent citation CIT-CORE-YINXUCIT-CORE136-YINXU-ACADEMIA-SINICA Setting and material context · 2 registered source URLs · registration is not semantic proof · audit HEM-AUDIT-20260812

How people lived

Royal lineages, diviners, artisans, farmers, soldiers, captives and sacrificed people occupied sharply unequal social positions.

Agent citation CIT-CORE-YINXUCIT-CORE136-YINXU-ACADEMIA-SINICA Lifeways and community · 2 registered source URLs · registration is not semantic proof · audit HEM-AUDIT-20260812

How people worked

Bronze casting, bone and shell inscription, chariot building, jade work, farming and tribute supported the court.

Agent citation CIT-CORE-YINXUCIT-CORE136-YINXU-ACADEMIA-SINICA Work, tools and exchange · 2 registered source URLs · registration is not semantic proof · audit HEM-AUDIT-20260812

Belief, ritual and worship

Oracle inscriptions record divination addressed to royal ancestors and powers such as Di; they reflect court practice rather than all communities.

Agent citation CIT-CORE-YINXUCIT-CORE136-YINXU-ACADEMIA-SINICA Belief, ritual and evidence limits · 2 registered source URLs · registration is not semantic proof · audit HEM-AUDIT-20260812

World-atlas stage: Iron Age networks
Region: East Asia · China
Languages and scripts: Late Shang Chinese represented in oracle-bone inscriptions; Oracle-bone script
Important people: Wu Ding; Fu Hao
Events and changes: Late Shang rulers established their principal political and ritual center near present-day Anyang by c. 1250 BCE.; Oracle-bone inscriptions from the reign of Wu Ding, c. 1250-1192 BCE under one commonly used chronology, record royal divination, warfare, harvests and ritual concerns.; Fu Hao was buried in a richly furnished tomb during the late 13th century BCE; the intact tomb was excavated in 1976 CE.; Palatial foundations, lineage cemeteries and specialized bronze, bone and pottery workshops expanded during the 13th-11th centuries BCE.; The Zhou conquest ended Shang royal rule around 1046 BCE under the conventional chronology, while occupation in the wider region continued.
Evidence confidence: Strong excavated and inscribed evidence; the image focuses on later Chinese weapon craft and is only technology-level context.

Agent citation CIT-CORE-YINXUCIT-CORE136-YINXU-ACADEMIA-SINICA Dates, place, language, people, events and confidence · 2 registered source URLs · registration is not semantic proof · audit HEM-AUDIT-20260812

Historical geography

A dated anchor, not an exact border

The local map uses modern coastlines only for orientation. The marker identifies this record's geographic anchor, not the full reach of a community or polity.

Map geometry loads only when requested. Modern outlines are orientation only; historical geography and identities changed through time.

Agent citation CIT-CORE-YINXUCIT-CORE136-YINXU-ACADEMIA-SINICA Historical-geography anchor and stated limits · 2 registered source URLs · registration is not semantic proof · audit HEM-AUDIT-20260812

Evidence register

Guides used for this record

Each registered source ID is paired with its institutional URL for independent checking. Source count is transparent, and duplicate URLs count only once.

CIT-CORE-YINXU

Yinxu / Anyang: record evidence guide

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1114/

whc.unesco.org

CIT-CORE136-YINXU-ACADEMIA-SINICA

Anyang Archaeological Site

https://www1.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/en/Research/Groups/anyangArchaeologicalSite

Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica

Previous: Kadesh campaign landscape Next: Tyre