Shuyuan Street Cemetery of Shang Dynasty Ruins in Zhengzhou City was shortlisted of the top 10 new a

China unveiled the preliminary assessment of the top 10 new archaeological discoveries in the country for 2022. There are 32 projects participated in the evaluation nationally, in with Shuyuan Street Cemetery of Shang Dynasty Ruins was shortlisted in Zhengzhou City.

▲File photo/Ma Jian

The top 10 new archaeological discoveries is the highest level and the most authoritative award set by Chinese archaeological circles, which starts in 1990, with great influence in the field of cultural relics and archaeology world-widely, and is known as "Oscar of Chinese archaeology". In the previous selection, 50 of Henan's discoveries have been picked in the top 10 new archaeological discoveries, which leads in the whole country.

It’s reported that four projects from Henan Province were shortlisted for preliminary evaluation: the Erlitou Site in Yanshi City, the Shuyuan Street Cemetery of Shang Dynasty Ruins in Zhengzhou, the Ruins of Zhouqiao and the Bian River Site in Kaifeng City.

▲File photo/Wang Yi 

The Shuyuan Street Cemetery of Zhengzhou Shangdu Site is the first cemetery with systematic structure found in the Shang Dynasty ruins .The existing area of the cemetery is more than 10,000 square meters, and belongs to Zhengzhou Baijiazhuang period in Shang Dynasty.

More than 200 pieces of funerary objects, such as bronze, jade, gold, arrowheads and shell coins, have been unearthed from M2, the main tomb of the cemetery. The cultural phenomenon of heavy use of gold, such as gold mask and turquoise accessories with gold foil have been discovered for the first time in China's early and Middle Shang Dynasty cultures, providing a new way to explore the origin of the Sanxingdui gold mask culture in Southwest China.