Ancient Chinese lord buried with bells meant to silence ancestral war rituals
Archaeologists have discovered that the tomb of the ancient Chinese Lord Qiu was intentionally tampered with to 'deactivate' his connection to ancestral war rituals. The study suggests that political shifts in the Zhou dynasty necessitated the silencing of these ceremonial instruments.
Why it matters
This discovery provides unique insight into how ancient political elites used religious and ceremonial practices to manage shifting power dynamics.
Imagine, for a moment, that you lived in ancient China, with a rival state threatening your people’s very existence. In the quest for any advantage, one strategy might involve performing a ceremony to invoke assistance from the ancestors.
However, life and politics are not static; old rivals can transform into close allies. This transformation raises an intriguing question: do ancient war ceremonies simply fade away when they lose relevance? A recent discovery in China indicates that, at least during the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC), people believed the answer was “no,” suggesting that old ceremonies needed to be “turned off.”
The research, published by Cambridge University Press, indicates that individuals – excluding thieves – had intentionally tampered with the resting place of Lord Qiu, a member of the political elite from the state of Zeng.
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