Fù Hǎo (婦好), posthumously Mu Xin (母辛), was a consort of King Wu Ding of the Shang Dynasty. In shell and bone inscriptions, she is said to have led 13,000 men into battle, a remarkable occurrence in ancient China. She was the mother of Prince Jie and died before King Wu Ding. Her tomb was unearthed at Yinxu (the ruins of the Shang capital, Yin) intact with treasures such as bronzes and jades.

Tomb of Fu Hao

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In 1976, archaeologists discovered Tomb number 5 at Xiaotun, which turned out to be Consort Fu Hao's tomb. Her tomb was the only royal tomb at Yinxu not to have been looted; although the tomb was one of the smallest at Yinxu, over 1600 objects were discovered inside her tomb. Among her tomb goods were almost 7000 cowrie shells, over 1600 kg of bronze goods, four bronze mirrors and eighty-nine dagger-axes.

755 jade objects were found inside her tomb; most of the jade was quarried in Xinjiang. Among her collection were antiques of her time, including jade from the Longshan, Liangzhu, Hongshan and Shijiahe culture.

References

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• Chang, Kwang-chih. The Archaeology of Ancient China, ISBN 0300037848
• The Cambridge History of Ancient China : From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC, Edited by Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy. ISBN 0521470307

Chinese archaeology | Shang Dynasty | Women in ancient warfare

Fu Hao | 妇好