In 1928, a city of immense proportions was uncovered at the archaeological sites in Anyang, known as the Ruins of Yin. It is identified to be the last royal capital of the Shang dynasty (c. 1100 BC). "It was the An-yang excavation that settled, once and for all, the controversial problem of the existence of this dynasty, previously accredited only by legends. It was also the first site given a date in the earliest segment of Chinese written history, and it thus ties written history to the prehistoric Neolithic cultures." [1]


[1] K.C. Chang, The Archaeology of Ancient China, Yale U Press, 1986.
Picture source: ibid., p. 327.

To this day, new archaeological finds are still being unearthed at this site. Below we show two bronze vessels unearthed in 1976 from a grave in the Ruins of Yin.

Picture source: China Pictorial, No.1, 1978.