Editing Yinxu (section)

== Historical importance ==
[[File:Houmuwu Ding or Simuwu Ding.jpg|thumb|The [[Houmuwu ding|Houmuwu ''ding'']]]]
Before the excavation of Yinxu, the Chinese historical record began in the first year of the subsequent Zhou dynasty, but the discovery of oracle bone inscriptions confirmed the historicity of the Shang, which had come under question. The framework of early ancient Chinese history was reconstructed, making it possible to assess the credibility of traditional accounts of Shang history.

The 150,000 oracle bones unearthed at Yinxu comprise much of the earliest evidence of written Chinese. Bronze and jade relics constitute evidence of the funeral customs of Yinxu, including human and animal sacrifice.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zhou |first=Yaogang |author-mask=Zhou Yaogang (周要港) |script-title=zh:文化遗产价值的评估——以安阳殷墟为例 |script-journal=zh:洛阳考古 |year=2020 |volume=2 |page=71 |language=zh}}</ref>

A large number of handicrafts and  workshops have been discovered at Yinxu. Patterns on utensils and bronzeware include those resembling animal faces, whorl patterns, and the ''[[taotie]]'' pattern. Large-scale bronzeware excavated at the site like the [[Houmuwu ding|Houmuwu ''ding'']] were cast by an elaborate section-mold process.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peng |first=Peng |title=Decentralizing the Origin of Civilization: Early Archaeological Efforts in China |journal=History of Humanities |year=2021 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=515–548 |doi=10.1086/715935 |s2cid=244133983 |issn=2379-3163}}</ref>