May 26, 2026 · 18 min · 10 segments
Today, we’ll talk about a surprising discovery at Yinxu that suggests Shang dynasty kings may have raised tigers, elephants, and other wild animals in a kind of royal “zoo” more than 3,000 years ago.
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[dramatic music] At the beginning of twenty twenty-six, a new archaeological discovery announced at the annual Henan Archaeological Achievements Forum quickly drew widespread attention in China.
Excavations in the royal cemetery area of the ancient ruins of Yinxu in Anyang suggested something astonishing.
Three thousand years ago, the capital of Shang dynasty may have contained something resembling a royal zoo, a place where a remarkable variety of wild animals from across the Central Plains were gathered, raised, and ultimately sacrificed in ritual ceremonies.
The discovery emerged from work carried out in late twenty twenty-four along the northern bank of the Huan River.
Winter sunlight slanted into a newly excavated sacrificial pit that archaeologists had just cleared to the bottom.
Nearby, Li Zhipeng, a zooarchaeologist from the Institute of Archaeology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, crouched beside a partially exposed skeleton.
The outline of a skull, spine, and limbs could be seen emerging from the soil.
At first glance, some archaeologists guessed it might be a dog.
Li leaned closer and examined a crucial feature of the bones.
After a few seconds, he raised his head with quiet excitement.
It was not a dog.
It was a wolf.
The small pit contained more surprises.
Two large feline skeletons lay nearby, with wide skulls and long canine teeth.
Li quickly identified them as a tiger and a leopard.
When specialists began naming the species one by one, the team standing around the pit was stunned.
Tigers, foxes, wolves...
These were wild animals that normally lived far from human settlements.
Why would they appear together inside a Shang dynasty sacrificial pit? Perhaps the most extraordinary finds were two nearly complete skeletons of a creature known in ancient Chinese texts as si, often translated as the sacred water buffalo.
[dramatic music] At the beginning of twenty twenty-six, a new archaeological discovery announced at the annual Henan Archaeological Achievements Forum quickly drew widespread attention in China.
Excavations in the royal cemetery area of the ancient ruins of Yinxu in Anyang suggested something astonishing.
Three thousand years ago, the capital of Shang dynasty may have contained something resembling a royal zoo, a place where a remarkable variety of wild animals from across the Central Plains were gathered, raised, and ultimately sacrificed in ritual ceremonies.
The discovery emerged from work carried out in late twenty twenty-four along the northern bank of the Huan River.
Winter sunlight slanted into a newly excavated sacrificial pit that archaeologists had just cleared to the bottom.
Nearby, Li Zhipeng, a zooarchaeologist from the Institute of Archaeology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, crouched beside a partially exposed skeleton.
The outline of a skull, spine, and limbs could be seen emerging from the soil.
At first glance, some archaeologists guessed it might be a dog.
Li leaned closer and examined a crucial feature of the bones.
After a few seconds, he raised his head with quiet excitement.
It was not a dog.
It was a wolf.
The small pit contained more surprises.
Two large feline skeletons lay nearby, with wide skulls and long canine teeth.
Li quickly identified them as a tiger and a leopard.
When specialists began naming the species one by one, the team standing around the pit was stunned.
Tigers, foxes, wolves...
These were wild animals that normally lived far from human settlements.
Why would they appear together inside a Shang dynasty sacrificial pit? Perhaps the most extraordinary finds were two nearly complete skeletons of a creature known in ancient Chinese texts as si, often translated as the sacred water buffalo.
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