Zheng Zhenxiang

Zheng Zhenxiang (; 1929 – 14 March 2024) was a Chinese archaeologist most famous for excavating the Bronze Age tomb of Fuhao at Anyang in 1976. She has been referred to as the 'First Lady of Chinese Archaeology'. Zheng died on 14 March 2024, at the age of 94.

Career After completing her undergraduate degree at Peking University in 1954, Zheng worked as a specialist archaeology teaching assistant in the History Department. In 1955, she was exempted from having her status converted to that of a research student. For the next four years, Zheng studied Shang and Zhou Dynasty archaeology under the guidance of Yin Da. She graduated in 1959 and was assigned to the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, continuing to study Shang and Zhou archaeology.

In 1959, Zheng was the leader of an excavation team working on the site of Wangwan (王湾) near Luoyang and led archaeological fieldwork training for students of Peking University. The publication of the Luoyang excavations was written in 1960 to 1961, however, after the period of reform and opening up in the early 1980s, the manuscript was edited by Zhao Zhiquan (赵芝荃) and published in 1989. In 1976, excavations were conducted on an area approximately 1,000 m2 in size. They unearthed 46 sets of foundations, 165 ash pits, and 54 burials – the most important of which was the tomb of Wu Ding's consort and general, Fuhao. Fuhao's tomb was extremely well preserved, and, in contrast to other tombs, had not been robbed. There was a huge number of grave goods, including bronzes, jades, precious stones and ivory, as well as a total of 1,928 bone artefacts and more than 7,000 seashells. Bronze artefacts included 468 ritual vessels and weapons. Of the 210 ritual vessels, 190 were engraved with characters and Fuhao's name was on 109 of them. Zheng identified the characters Fuhao as referring to the prominent individual mentioned in the oracle bones of the Wu Ding period as presiding over rituals and leading soldiers into battle.