Page 204 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

rior's own features, the mask must have presented
a fierce countenance to any adversary. At the rear,
a small tube on the ridge probably held a plume.
The helmets from Tomb 1004 follow the same
3
overall design, but vary considerably in detail. Two
examples in American collections (the St. Louis Art
Museum and The Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas
4
City ), share the same traits, and could well have
originated from Anyang. Outside the cache in Tomb
1004, however, bronze helmets are very rare in
Shang finds. RT

1 Liang and Gao 1970, 30 - 35, pis. 23 - 30.
2 Excavated in 1989 (XDM:34i); reported: Jiangxi 1997,115.
3 Yang Hong 1980, 8 -12.
4 For the St. Louis helmet, see Kidder 1956, 94 - 96; the
Kansas City helmet is unpublished.

1
farther below, 141 bronze helmets. The Xibeigang
context provides sufficient grounds to argue that
bronze weaponry was an important perquisite of
a Shang king, and perhaps of local chiefs or lords
as well. The single helmet found in the Dayangzhou
2
tomb may well have constituted part of a local
lord's personal regalia.
This example, like the bronze helmets from
Anyang, is almost round in section and was made
using two mold-sections that join at the ridge run-
ning from front to back. The front edge is cut away
over the warrior's forehead, while the sides and
back hang down to afford protection to the ears
and neck. Above the warrior's face are attributes of
a mask: squared eyes, curled nostrils, a pair of ears
in relief, and a pair of horns sweeping to each side
in still higher relief. In combination with the war-

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