A Study on Yinxu(殷墟), the Ancient Settlement of Chinese City: Focused on its Religious Character

Archaeological excavations at Xiaotun Village, Anyang City, Henan Province, have confirmed the site as Yinxu (殷墟), the late Shang Dynasty capital. The study reveals that Yinxu was a religious city, with its palace and ancestral temple district serving as both political and religious spaces. Excavated artifacts, including large architectural foundations, ritual pits, oracle bones, and bronze vessels, provide concrete evidence of divination and sacrificial rituals performed here. The research suggests that the Shang Dynasty operated under an undifferentiated political-religious framework, where the palace-temple complex functioned as a multifacetional space for governance, religion, and daily life, housing both living individuals and ancestors.

Lim, H. S. (2022). A Study on Yinxu(殷墟), the Ancient Settlement of Chinese City: Focused on its Religious Character. The Critical Review of Religion and Culture, 41, 173–217. https://doi.org/10.36429/crrc.41.5