Capital of the Zhou People before the Shang Dynasty (17th century-11th century BC) was conquered, as well as the site of the city of Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century-771BC)
Location: Qishan and Fufeng counties, Shaanxi Province
Period: About 11th century-8th century BC
Excavated in 1976

Bronze tray belonging to a man named Shi Qiang: ritual object (up, mouth diameter 47.3 cm, height 16.2 cm); Jade man: probably as an ornament (left-bottom, height 6.5 cm); Bronze gu (goblet with open mouth, long and narrow stem and flat base) inscribed with the owner's name, Fu Yi: ritual vessel or wine vessel (right-bottom, height 25 cm); Inscriptions on bronze: (in the background)
Significance: The site has played an important role in exploring the origin of the pre-Zhou cultures, as well as the social, political, economic and cultural developments of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Introduction

Zhouyuan, the ancient capital of the State of Zhou in the late Shang period, is located at the center of Shaanxi Province, covered by farmlands and some modern villages. The continuing archaeological investigations discovered some palace foundations, residential sites for common people, kilns, copper-smelting workshops, storage pits and some small tombs, while the recent efforts have been focused on locating the foundation of the city walls and the royal tombs. Large quantities of stone wares, pottery, bone wares, jade and bronze wares were discovered.

In 1977, about 170,000 oracle bones were unearthed, which are of great archaeological value. The most important finding in Zhouyuan Site is the unearthed group of bronze storage pits. By far, more than 30 such storage pits have been excavated with about 1,000 pieces of bronze utensils.