Saving the best for last

Most importantly, a large number of complete bronze items were unearthed in the tomb, which undoubtedly highlights the dignified status of the tomb owner.

"Everyone agreed that it was possible that the owner of the tomb was a person from the same clan as the Shang king who was sent to establish his own territory here," Bai says.

The excavation work was completed in December 2018 and eventually uncovered 12 tombs from the late Shang Dynasty, which led to the discovery of more than 600 bronze, jade, ceramic and bone artifacts in an area of more than 5,000 square meters.

At the same time, the Shanxi authorities launched a three-year fight against the theft of cultural relics and managed to retrieve 29 of the stolen historical items, all of which were identified by archaeologists as being from Jiuwutou.

"The recovery of the artifacts has made the historical information of the Jiuwutou tomb site nearly complete," Wang says.

"When they make their way to the museums, they will be opening a window through which the public can view and understand the material civilization and social circumstances of the time back then."

Peng Ke'er contributed to the story.