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Some sources suggest that it was the use of war chariots - the technology itself, and the tactics for their use coming from the Near East - which allowed the Shang to subdue and unite the lands they did, in order to establish the dynasty.<ref>Walter McNeill, "The Changing Shape of World History," in Ross Dunn (ed.), ''The New World History'', Bedford/St. Martin's (2000), 152.</ref>
Some sources suggest that it was the use of war chariots - the technology itself, and the tactics for their use coming from the Near East - which allowed the Shang to subdue and unite the lands they did, in order to establish the dynasty.<ref>Walter McNeill, "The Changing Shape of World History," in Ross Dunn (ed.), ''The New World History'', Bedford/St. Martin's (2000), 152.</ref>
The Shang buried their kings and other elites in grand tombs, filled with extensive amounts of grave goods. This represents a continuation, and expansion, of social stratification seen in earlier periods (such as in the [[Longshan culture]], c. 3000-2000 BCE, and far less so in the [[Yangshao culture]], c. 5000-3000 BCE). The tomb of Lady Hao, a consort of King Wuding, who was surely not the highest ranking of Shang elites (being only a consort, and not a king herself, let alone one of the greatest kings of the period), contained 1.5 metric tons of bronzes, 755 jades, and nearly 7,000 cowry shells. The Shang also continued and expanded upon the Longshan culture's practice of human sacrifice, burying a dozen or as many as several hundred prisoners of war, or other people, in an elite's tomb.<ref>Schirokauer, et al, 11-12.</ref>
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