Sacred beasts of ancient Yinxu

While modern people marvel at wild animals in zoos, their ancestors in the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th century-11th century BC) may have done something similar.

Archaeologists working at the Yinxu Ruins in Anyang, Henan province — the late Shang capital famed for inscribed oracle bones bearing jiaguwen, the earliest-known established form of the Chinese writing system — have uncovered the remains of a remarkable menagerie. Complete skeletons of tigers, leopards, wolves, wild boars, deer, swans and other species were buried in sacrificial pits within the royal mausoleum area.

The discovery isn't just a random cache of wild prey, but is considered the earliest evidence of a Chinese royal family raising and managing wild animals, turning the Shang kings into the first-known "zoo owners" in Chinese history.

During excavations in 2023 and 2024 at the fifth locus of the mausoleum zone — between two encircling ditches that surround graves and sacrificial pits — archaeologists cleared 59 pits. They recovered dozens of wild species, including short-horned water buffalo (already extinct), wolves, tigers, leopards, foxes, serows, porcupines, and wild birds such as swans, alongside many domesticated horses. The findings were recently published in the Chinese journal, Archaeology.