In the village of Sanxingdui, located in the Chinese province of Sichuan, a remarkable discovery was made that immediately attracted widespread attention and prompted a rewrite of the history of Chinese civilization.
Two giant sacrificial pits were excavated containing thousands of gold, bronze, jade, ceramic and other artifacts that were very different from those found before in China. The archaeologists realized that they had opened the door to the world of an unknown ancient culture.
In the spring of 1929, a peasant in Sanxingdui was digging a well and came across a large cache of jade relics. This event later led to the discovery of a mysterious ancient kingdom. Generations of Chinese archaeologists searched the area unsuccessfully until 1986, when workers accidentally unearthed pits containing thousands of artifacts that were smashed, burned, and then carefully buried.
Among the intriguing artifacts found in the sacrificial pits at Sanxingdui were statuettes with animal heads, masks with dragon ears and open mouths full of teeth, heads wearing gold foil masks, decorative animals including dragons, snakes and birds; a giant rod, a sacrificial altar, a 4-meter high bronze tree, axes, tablets, rings, knives and hundreds of other unique items.
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Of particular note is the 2.62 m tall bronze figure of a standing man - the largest and best preserved in the world.
Most striking are the large bronze masks and heads with angular features, huge almond-shaped eyes, faceted noses, and enormous ears. Such traits do not reflect the appearance of the Asians.
After radiocarbon analysis, the artifacts were dated to the 12th - 11th centuries. BC. They were created using amazingly advanced bronze casting technology, with the addition of lead to a copper-tin alloy to produce a stronger metal.
Heavier and larger objects were cast from this alloy - a life-size statue of a man and a tree 4 meters high.
Some of the masks were oversized, one of which is 40 cm wide and 72 cm high, the largest bronze mask ever found. The three largest masks have the most supernatural features of all the Sanxingdui artifacts - animal-like ears, monstrously protruding pupils and additional, richly decorated torsos.
The researchers were amazed - it was an art style completely unknown in the history of Chinese art, which developed mainly in the Yellow River region.
An impressive discovery at Sanxingdui in 1986 made Sichuan a focal point for exploration of ancient China. Ancient artifacts in Sanxingdui date back to the late second millennium BC, during the Shang dynasty, which flourished in the Yellow River Valley in northern China, thousands of miles from Sichuan province.
Such finds have not been made anywhere else, and no records have been found in Sanxingdui that could shed light on this mysterious culture. Apparently, this was a Bronze Age civilization, not described in historical texts and previously unknown.
This discovery led to a radical change in the traditional view of one civilization in North China and to the recognition of the existence of several regional cultures from which Sichuan was sharply different.
The culture that produced these artifacts is now known as Sanxingdui. Archaeologists associate it with the ancient kingdom of Shu. References to the Shu kingdom that can be reliably dated at such an early period in Chinese historical records are scarce (it is mentioned in Shiji and Shujing as an ally of Zhou who defeated Shang), but references to the legendary rulers of Shu can be found in local chronicles.
According to the Chronicle of Huayang, compiled during the Jin Dynasty (265-420), the kingdom of Shu was founded by Tsancong. He is described as having bulging eyes, a feature that correlates with the figures in Sanxingdui.
Among other rulers in the annals are Bohuan, Yufu and Duyui. Many of the artifacts are fish or bird-like. Scientists suggest that these are totems of Bogan and Yufu (Yufu means "fish" and "cormorant").
Sanxingdui covered an area of about three square kilometers, it was a large settlement for that time, with developed agriculture, including winemaking. The production of ceramics, sacrificial tools, and mining were commonplace.
According to archaeologists, the inhabitants, for unknown reasons, suddenly left Sanxingdui around 1000 BC, and this mystical culture fell into decay.
The sacrificial pits are believed to have been the place where the ancient Shu people made sacrifices to Heaven, Earth, mountains, rivers, and other natural gods. Humanoid figures, bronze animal masks with bulging eyes and flat bronze animal face masks could be images of the natural gods worshiped by the Shu people.
“Judging by the numerous bronze sculptures of people and burial objects, in the ancient kingdom of Sanxingdui, people worshiped nature, totems and ancestors. There were probably often grand sacrificial services held there to attract tribes with different religious beliefs,”said Ao, a staff member at the Sanxingdui Museum, which has been studying Sanxingdui culture for half a century.
He believes that the large number of bronze artifacts in Sanxingdui means that this place was a Mecca for pilgrims.
Since their discovery, these artifacts have generated great international interest. They have been exhibited in world famous museums such as the British Museum, Taipei National Palace Museum, National Gallery of Art (Washington), Guggenheim Museum (New York), Asian Art Museum (San Francisco), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney) and the Olympic Museum in Lausanne (Switzerland).
The Sanxingdui discovery shocked the world, but the history of the artifacts remains a mystery. Nothing like this has ever been found anywhere in the world. There are no historical records or ancient texts that speak of them.
Experts ask questions about what was the purpose of creating these strange objects, how this mysterious culture arose and where people went after they buried their most precious treasures. The Sanxingdui civilization, a unique page in China's long history, remains a mystery to this day.