The excavation of tomb M2158 at the Hengshui cemetery of the Western Zhou dynasty in Jiangxian County, Shanxi Province

Abstract

From 2004 to 2007, the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology excavated the Hengshui cemetery of the Western Zhou dynasty in Jiangxian County, Shanxi Province. The excavation recovered 1,299 burials of the Western Zhou dynasty. Tomb M2158 is a large-sized burial located in the middle slightly to the west of the cemetery. It is a vertical earthen shaft pit burial in a rectangular plan, the bottom of which is slightly larger than the opening; along the four sides of the bottom of the grave, artificial second-tier ledges built of rammed earth are featured. In the middle of the bottom, a waist pit was dug. The burial receptacles consist of two inner coffins and one outer coffin. The tomb owner is an adult male 35–40 years old. In the grave, six human victims and two sacrificial dogs were found. The grave goods unearthed from this burial include bronzes, proto-porcelain wares, jades, stone and bone implements, and shell (cowry) objects. The grave goods show that the date of this burial was the early stage of the mid-Western Zhou dynasty, and its occupant was the earl of Peng, the lord of the Peng state enfeoffed by the king of the Western Zhou.