A rather smaller palace complex was unearthed about 150 meters away. A six-meter-deep tomb was found between the palace and the outer wall. In terms of form, it resembled rich burials found in late Neolithic sites and in the Shang cities, in having a shelf toward the base of the chamber. unfortunately, this burial had been looted, but at least the skeleton of a dog with its own lacquered coffin remained from what must surely have been the tomb of a person of very high status. other burials belonging to the later part of the occupation were, however, also recovered and while not as large as the tomb in the palace precinct, nevertheless provide much social and technological information. None was found to be completely unviolated, but the surviving remains of lacquer coffins indicate the presence of the upper orders in Erlitou society. Some contain bronze grave goods, including vessels, bells, knives, and halberds (ge). There are also some unusual bronze plaques inlaid with turquoise. Jades were relatively rare but occur in the form of ge, disk axes, and beautifully shaped YAZHANG, or arc-ended blades. These yazhang have a wide distribution, most of them from the sacrificial pits of sanx-INGDUI in Sichuan to the south. There, a bronze model of a man on his knees holding such a blade suggests that it might well have had a ceremonial or ritual function. The burials have also yielded exotic cowry shells. This wide range of exotic goods, from tin and copper to turquoise, jade, and shell, is reminiscent of the items listed by Sima Qian in the Shiji as goods sent as tribute to the Xia court. These have been confirmed at Erlitou with a rich grave known as K3, which included a rectangular trench on a north-south axis in which lay an additional ledge. The base was liberally coated with cinnabar, and the offerings within included a bronze jue, or wine jug, a stone musical chime, bronze and jade weapons, cowry shells, and turquoise that had formerly been inlaid into a perishable artifact.
World History
