Sanxingdui

[Randy W]

This is in the news now on CGTN

https://www.facebook.com/565225540184937/posts/5968962183144552/
from CGTN on Facebook

Literally meaning "Three-Star Piles", Sanxingdui is a cultural relic from the the Kingdom of Shu in ancient China. The name refers to the three earth mounds at the eponymous site, whose discovery attracted international attention and rewrote the history of Chinese civilization. #sanxingduidiscovery

 

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Timeline of discovery

It all began when a farmer came across jadeware while digging a ditch in the late 1920s, opening the door to an unknown culture, 3,000 and 5,000 years old. 

 . . .

Experts dug out large numbers of strange bronze images and animals from the ruins, such as bronze masks, bronze standing figures and golden rods. The findings also aroused the interest of scholars around the world in the significance of the ancient Shu civilization in southwestern China.

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rom 2012 to 2015, the foundations of large houses on Qingguan Mountain and important cultural relics of multiple sections of the city wall were discovered. The complete ancient city walls of Sanxingdui were finally revealed.

On July 28, 2020, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology announced the discovery of an important site next to Sanxingdui, which was believed to be a 5,000-year-old settlement. A large number of potteries, porcelain and stonewares have been unearthed from the site.

Experts believe that the majority of relics unearthed from the ruins bears the features of the Sanxingdui Culture. It is also the first time that a complete sequence of ancient Shu civilization has been found around Sanxingdui.

Sichuan archaeologists discovered six new "sacrificial pits" in the Sanxingdui site area from October 2019 to August 2020. With the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Relics, and starting from September 2020, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology initiated archaeological excavations in these six sacrificial areas.

Sanxingdui is regarded as one of the most important historical sites in the world, due to its scale, age and relics.

 

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/1570821646570023/posts/2907932116192296/

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More than 500 relics were unearthed in one of China’s most significant excavations in decades, providing glimpses of an ancient kingdom that has a “significant connection” with the origin of Chinese civilization.

Sanxingdui from CGTN
https://www.facebook.com/565225540184937/posts/5977855988921838/

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

 . . . and the Smithsonianmag quotes the South China Morning Post and the Global Times

3,000-Year-Old Gold Mask, Silk Linked to Enigmatic Civilization Found in China
The state of Shu left behind few written records. A trove of 500 newly excavated objects may offer insights on the mysterious kingdom

the ancient inhabitants of Sanxingdui

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Silk has played an important role in China’s millennia-old history. As the statement points out, the ancient inhabitants of Sanxingdui probably wore silk garments during sacrificial ceremonies. The fiber was thought to serve “as a carrier and medium for communication between heaven, earth, man and god,” notes the statement, per Google Translate. Outside of these religious rituals, silk was used to make fine clothing, fans, wall hangings and banners, as Mark Cartwright wrote for Ancient History Encyclopedia in 2017.

Civilizations across the ancient world, from Rome to Persia to Egypt to Greece, similarly revered Chinese silk, sending traders along the Silk Road to obtain the highly sought-after fabric.

 

 

Edited July 18, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

from Beautiful China on Facebook - Sanxingdui
https://www.facebook.com/groups/beautifulchina/permalink/470126614322302/

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With new discoveries at the legendary Sanxingdui ruins in Sichuan, the Sanxingdui Museum has become a popular tourist attraction during the Qingming Festival. On April 3, the Museum reached its maximum tourist capacity of 15000 people, making a new record. #Sanxingdui #sichuan #relic #traveling

New discoveries make Sanxingdui Museum more popular during Qingming Festival

Visitors line up before entering the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, southwest China's Sichuan Province, April 4, 2021. /Sanxingdui Museum

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Earlier on March 20, Chinese archaeologists announced some new major discoveries made during the 37th excavation since its last excavation 35 years ago. The ruins were first discovered in the late 1920s and first excavated in 1934.

More than 500 important cultural relics have been unearthed in the six newly-found pits, including fragments of gold masks, bird-shaped gold ornaments, gold foils, painted bronze head portraits, giant bronze masks, bronze sacred tree, ivories, fragments of exquisite tooth carvings, jade cong and jade tools.

 

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

The Mysterious Ancient City That’s Rewriting Chinese History
The discovery of a 3,000-year-old civilization at Sanxingdui raised profound questions about China’s ancient past. Now, researchers believe they’re finally close to finding some answers.

from the Sixth Tone

Left: Researchers use traditional tools to excavate Pits 1 and 2 at Sanxingdui, Sichuan province, 1986. Courtesy of archaeologist Chen De’an, via Xinhua; Right: Researchers excavate Pit 3 while suspended on a board above the soil, March 19, 2021.

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China is lavishing funding on Xu and his team for good reason. The researchers, who are based at a remote site near the southwestern city of Chengdu known as Sanxingdui, believe they’re close to unlocking one of Chinese archaeology’s greatest mysteries.

 

 

Tourists take photos of the Large Standing Figure at the Sanxingdui Museum, in Guanghan, Sichuan province, May 2021. The recent finds at Sanxingdui has renewed public interest in the project. Zhang Lang/CNS/People Visual

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The statue, which today looms over the central hall of the Sanxingdui Museum, continues to baffle researchers. It depicts a solemn-looking figure with glaring eyes and a hooked nose — features that are distinct from other Chinese artifacts from the period. It is dressed in three layers of clothes, their delicate patterns still visible on the cold, hard bronze.

Most mysterious of all is the statue’s pose. The figure’s disproportionately large hands are raised in front of its chest, its fingers forming two circles. It looks like the figure was once holding something aloft, but researchers still have no idea what.

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In ancient Chinese sources, there are references to a remote kingdom named Shu based in what is now modern-day Sichuan province. The “Chronicles of Huayang,” compiled during the Jin dynasty (266-420 A.D.), writes that the Shu state originated in the upper reaches of the Min River — a tributary of the Yangtze that runs through Sichuan province — over 3,500 years ago. Over the next millennium, five dynasties ruled Shu, before the kingdom gradually declined and was conquered by the Qin state in 316 B.C., according to the “Chronicles.”

 

[Randy W]

CGTN

Culture China 17:11, 12-Jun-2022

Bronze altar discovered at Sanxingdui ruins site in SW China

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Archaeologists have discovered a bronze altar from pit No. 8 at the Sanxingdui archaeological site in Guanghan City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, China Media Group reported on Sunday. 

The bronze altar is nearly one meter high, and features upper mythical creatures that are separated from a lower platform. Archaeologists extracted the mythical creatures on Saturday, and the bronze platform will be extracted on Sunday. 

At present, half the excavation work in No. 8 pit has been completed, and the excavation of No. 7 pit has entered the final stage. No. 7 pit contains a large number of bronze fragments and jade articles. Pits No. 5 and No. 6 have been completely extracted and excavated to a laboratory. In addition, the earliest excavated pits, No. 3 and No. 4, have been excavated and are now sealed. 

The most important find at pit No. 6 was a rectangular wooden box, which has been taken to the cultural relics center.

 

 

[Randy W]

Sanxingdui Ruins: treasure trove of 13,000 ancient artefacts sheds light on mysterious Chinese kingdom

• Thousands of artefacts found in sacrificial pits help date what is believed to be a centre of the Shu Kingdom
• The items include ‘complex and imaginative’ sculptural works

from the SCMP

Among the outstanding finds from the Sanxingdui Ruins site is a bronze altar. Photo: Xinhua
 

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“Although we do not know what this vessel was used for, we can assume that ancient people treasured it.”

The vessel was among the 13,000 items – about a quarter of them largely complete – uncovered from the site, the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute said on Monday.

 

 

 

 

 

[Randy W]

Why archaeologists are so excited by China’s Sanxingdui ruins

• Ancient treasure trove reveals deep connections between the mysterious Shu kingdom and other early Chinese settlements
• Thousands of intricate relics of gold, bronze, jade and ivory have been found, all relating to sacrificial activities

from the SCMP

 

 

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The Sanxingdui ruins were first uncovered in the late 1920s, in Guanghan city, about 40km (25 miles) north of the provincial capital Chengdu. The breakthrough discovery came six decades later – two sacrificial pits containing more than 1,700 artefacts.

In 2019, a third pit was revealed, just a few dozen metres from the first two. Archaeologists found another five pits the following year.

As of May, archaeologists had completed field excavations of pits No 3 and No 4, according to state news agency Xinhua. Artefacts from No 5 and No 6 pits are undergoing laboratory cleaning, while No 7 and No 9 pits are in the extraction stage.

An ancient puzzle

The Sanxingdui ruins are believed to be at the heart of the mysterious Shu kingdom of 4,500 years ago. So far, no written records have been found to explain where these ancient people came from or the significance of the relics they left behind.

 

 

[Randy W]

sanxingdui.mp4

A bronze figure at the famed Sanxingdui Ruins site was successfully matched with an animal bronzeware with the help of a 3D model

from Xinhua Culture&Travel on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/XinhuaTravel/videos/2817943318350223/

 

sanxingdui.mp4

A bronze figure at the famed Sanxingdui Ruins site was successfully matched with an animal bronzeware with the help of a 3D model

Posted by Xinhua Culture&Travel on Thursday, January 5, 2023

 

 

 

[Randy W]

The #Sanxingdui Ruins site covering an area of about 12 square kilometers was first discovered in the 1920s. In 1986, the excavation of two sacrificial pits demystified the site and marveled the world. Many precious cultural relics were unearthed including bronze statues, bronze sacred trees, gold rods, gold masks, ivories, and seashells, most of which had never been discovered before in China. Among them, artifacts featuring peculiar shapes and huge sizes were exemplified by an exaggerated bronze mask with protruding eyes, a towering bronze sculpture of a human figure, and a 3.95-meter-tall bronze “tree of life,” which made Sanxingdui stand out from its counterparts of the Bronze Age (approximately 3300 B.C. to 1200 B.C.). The site has also been crowned one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
http://china-pictorial.com.cn/the-sanxingdui--ruins-amazing--ancient-shu--civilization

from China Pictorial on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ChinaPic/posts/pfbid01Je5dBpWVzsSd5ESEAD4My6bRQ6BsQQV95tQ3KsNj3uifht3Bu2ZN1vrWGLSomPgl

 

 

The Sanxingdui Ruins: Amazing Ancient Shu Civilization

TEXT BY GONG HAIYING PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEAM OF THE SANXINGDUI RUINS

JULY 12, 2022

Site Archives:

Time of discovery: 1929

Location: Sanxingdui Town, Guanghan City, Sichuan Province

Historical period: From the late Neolithic Age to the early Spring and Autumn Period (approximately 4,800-2,600 years ago)

Area: 12 square kilometers

One of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century;

One of “China’s top 100 archaeological findings in the past 100 years”