What are the important functions of elephants in Shang Dynasty?

Elephant is an important theme of Shang people's artistic creation, which is often shown in the decoration of bronze and jade in Shang Dynasty. In the archaeology of the tombs of the Shang capital, it was found more than once that people used elephants or young elephants as sacrificial pits.

In the Spring and Autumn Period of Lu? There is also a record of "Yin people serving elephants" in ancient music. In Oracle Bone Inscriptions, there is such an inquiry: "It's raining tonight, can you catch elephants?" Another sentence said: "Yin founded the country in Chu and got two elephants." There are a lot of Oracle Bone Inscriptions similar to this kind of elephant hunting, which shows that the wild elephants in Shang Dynasty, like other animals, were the main targets of hunting in Shang Dynasty.

Because Henan was the main habitat of elephants at that time, there was another name in Henan called "Yu", and the word "Yu" was a graphic representation of Yin people's costumes.

"Shuo Wen Jie Zi" said: "Long nose and long teeth, a big beast in southern Guangdong, milk in three seasons, like ears, teeth and four feet." Later, the word "image" was extended to refer to concrete shapes and external forms of things, such as images, scenes, astrology, meteorology, phenomena and so on.