Yin Xu
1300 BCE – 1046 BCE
The last capital of China's Shang Dynasty and the site where, in 1899, scholars first identified oracle bone inscriptions — the earliest confirmed form of Chinese writing, and one of the world's oldest deciphered writing systems. Excavations here have recovered the tomb of Fu Hao, a Shang queen and military commander independently attested in the oracle bone texts themselves, making Yin Xu one of the rare archaeological sites where inscribed contemporary text and excavated physical remains directly confirm each other.
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