Yuwei Zhou (PhD Candidate, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago)

Initially excavated in 1928 as China’s first archaeological investigation, the Bronze Age settlement of Anyang in Henan province remains one of the most significant discoveries in Chinese archaeology. In 1979, a report on the Western Locus cemetery established an influential paradigm for late Shang mortuary studies: tomb grouping (muzang fenqu 墓葬分區), a method that divides cemeteries into spatial clusters to infer clan structures. This approach was quickly adopted in analyses of cemeteries within and beyond Anyang, reinforcing a widespread interpretation of clan-based social organization. Today, despite some skepticism, this view remains deeply embedded in narratives of Shang archaeology.

This study critically re-examines the term “clan cemetery” by tracing its scholarly origins and reassessing its methodological basis through computational analysis. As recent excavations reveal increasing variability in archaeological data that challenges the clan-based model, this study draws on anthropological theories to propose a new understanding of Anyang mortuary dynamics within an urban context.