Construction work uncovers buried treasures in Henan's provincial capital

"The findings may also show a grand picture of cultural communication across the Eurasian grassland," Chen says. "Comparative studies are required to get more clues so that we can develop a much wider lens through which to view the Shang Dynasty."

Carbon dating shows the graveyard is about 3,400 years old, around the middle period of the Shang Dynasty, earlier than the Yinxu Ruins in Anyang, Henan province, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unearthed oracle bone inscriptions, the oldest-known extant Chinese characters, proved Yinxu to be the last capital of the Shang Dynasty.

Huang says he believes the discovery of the graveyard can help scholars clarify how the Shang City of Zhengzhou developed during its time and better show its status, possibly as a Shang capital in an earlier period than Yinxu.

"The pottery shards found at the grave site also show a continuous lineage of time," Huang says. "They indicate that the Shang City of Zhengzhou played the role as a core settlement for a long period."

Lei Xingshan, a professor at the Capital Normal University in Beijing, says, "The rare finding of a graveyard of this time provides key materials to indicate how the early stage Chinese civilization was formed. It can also inspire studies about the social systems of early state capitals, as well as their economy."