included weapons. The dagger-axes in tombs, both combat and symbolic,
are markers of the close association between Shang, Western Zhou, and
Spring and Autumn period aristocrats and warfare. These men and women
were steeped in combat and identified themselves withfighting and martial
arts through the regular burial of particular weapons with their dead. This
extended even to circulating symbolic weapons made of precious materials
as a means of exchange within the aristocratic class.
Chariots
Chariots were mainly markers of royal status rather than instruments of war
during the Shang dynasty. Edward L. Shaughnessy has argued that the
chariot arrived in China in a mature form about1200 bcefrom Central
Eurasia.^13 Over time, it changed from a prestige item that functioned as a
command platform (in the Shang) to a central vehicle of battle (in the Western
Zhou) and then declined until it became a clumsy anachronism. Shang oracle
bones record far more instances of enemies using chariots against the Shang
than Shang forces using chariots themselves. The Shang adoption of chariots
was therefore an adaptation of a foreign technology, whether as a necessary
response to defend against chariots or simply to take advantage of a new
illustration 3.Gehalberd head, possibly Warring States period, Laufer
Collection. Courtesy of the Field Museum and Ernest Caldwell. Photo by Ernest
Caldwell.
22 Stone Age through the Spring and Autumn Period