We cannot know whether such a ceremony with these particular concerns
took place before Lady Hao went out on her campaigns, but the presence
of the dual axes in her tomb is suggestive of a similar bestowal of authority
from a ruler to afield commander. A ruler had the power to execute an
inferior as punishment for a failing. He transferred this power to a
commander who acted for him in leading troops in combat. Executing
someone with an axe was quite different from killing the person in combat
with a dagger-axe. The twin axes in Fu Hao’s tomb argue for a ceremonial
differentiation of politically endorsed violence, as opposed to an unregu-
lated clash of arms unsanctioned by the state.
A commander’s authority to regulate the army under her or his control,
as distinct from the ruler’s authority over his subjects under ordinary
circumstances, describes a separate martial realm of different rules and
values. Lady Hao’s axes indicate that Shang dynasty aristocrats were
keenly aware of this separate arena and that her importance and role in
that realm could be indicated and instantiated by burying her with the
tools of command. The weapons in her tomb, the dagger-axes, arrowheads
(and presumably bows along with them), knives, and the like argue that
she was a warrior. She knew how tofight because she was an aristocrat.
The pair of axes showed that she was also a general.
Dagger-axes and axes thus represent different aspects of the martial
world when used as funerary goods. A man’s status as a warrior and
member of the aristocracy was marked by burial with a bronze dagger-
axe. A commander’s status was indicated by the inclusion of a pair of
noncombat axes. At the same time, combat axes and symbolic jade dagger-
axes were placed in tombs. Fu Hao’s tomb contained a jade and bronze
spearhead, even though spears do not appear to have been very important
weapons symbolically or in combat at that time.^11 Her tomb also included
forty jade dagger-axes, one of which was inscribed:“The Lufang submitfive
dagger-axes as tribute.”^12 The Lufang were a tributary state of the Shang
and sent jade dagger-axes to maintain their relations with the Shang court.
A practical weapon was rendered symbolic when it was made out of a
precious material like jade, or made too large or heavy to be wielded
effectively in battle. These physical goods achieved their symbolic goal by
divorcing themselves from the possibility of combat. By standing outside the
realm of martial arts, they took on another meaning despite being rendered
in the form of weapons. There were many other funerary goods, particularly
in the highest-status tombs like Fu Hao’s, which also indicated the wealth
and importance of the occupant. Yet, in addition to the enormous bronze
vessels and jade knickknacks, aristocratic male tombs and even a female one
The Dagger-Axe (Ge), Axe, and Spear 21