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Sanxingdui () is an archaeological site and a major Bronze Age culture in modern Guanghan, Sichuan, China. Largely discovered in 1986, Mystery of Ancient Chinese Civilization's Disappearance Explained following a preliminary finding in 1927, excavated artifacts that radiocarbon dating placed in the 12th–11th centuries BC. The archaeological site is the type site for the Sanxingdui culture that produced these artifacts, archeologists have identified the locale with the ancient kingdom of Shu, which suggests the presence of a unique civilization in this region before the state of Qin conquered the area in 316 BCE. The artifacts are displayed in the Sanxingdui Museum located near the city of Guanghan.
Sanxingdui is on the UNESCO list of tentative World Heritage Sites, along with the Jinsha site and the tombs of boat-shaped coffins.
According to the Chronicles of Huayang that were compiled during the Jin dynasty (266–420), the Shu kingdom was founded by Cancong (). Chronicles of Huayang Original text: 周失紀綱，蜀先稱王。有蜀侯蠶叢，其目縱，始稱王。 Cancong was described as having protruding eyes, a feature that is found in many of the masks and figures of Sanxingdui. It has therefore been suggested that the large masks with protruding eyes are a representation of Cancong, although there are other interpretations. Other eye-shaped objects were also found that might suggest worship of the eyes. Other rulers mentioned in Chronicles of Huayang include Boguan (), Yufu (), and Duyu (). Many of the objects are fish- and bird-shaped, and these have been suggested to be totems of Boguan and Yufu (the name Yufu means fish cormorant), and the clan of Yufu has been suggested as the one most likely to be associated with Sanxingdui.Sanxingdui Museum (2006), pp. 7–8
Later, similar discoveries were made at Jinsha as well, which is located 40 km away and has close link with the Sanxingdui culture. It is thought to be the relocated capital of the Shu Kingdom. It also has been suggested that the Jinsha site may be the hub and capital of the Duyu clan.
The city was built on the banks of the Yazi River (), and enclosed part of its tributary, Mamu River, within the city walls. The city walls were 40 m at the base and 20 m at the top, varying in height from 8–10 m. There was a smaller set of inner walls.
The walls were surrounded by canals 25–20 m wide and 2–3 m deep. These canals were used for irrigation, inland navigation, defense, and flood control. The city was divided into residential, industrial, and religious districts organized around a dominant central axis. It is along this axis that most of the pit burials have been found on four terraces. The structures were timber-framed adobe rectangular halls. The largest was a meeting hall about .
In 1986, local workers accidentally found sacrificial pits containing thousands of gold, bronze, jade, and pottery artifacts that had been broken (perhaps ritually disfigured), burned, and carefully buried. Containing approximately 800 objects, the second sacrificial pit was found a little less than a month later, on August 14, 1986, only 20–30 meters from the first one.
Bronze objects found in the second sacrificial pit included sculptures of humans, animal-faced sculptures, bells, decorative animals such as dragons, snakes, chicks, and birds, and axes. Tables, masks, and belts were some of the objects found that were made out of gold, while objects made out of jade included axes, tablets, rings, knives, and tubes. There were also many ivory carvings, and clam shells. Researchers were astonished to find an artistic style that was completely unknown in the history of Chinese art.
Among the Sanxingdui discoveries, the bronze artifacts garnered exceptional scholarly attention. Task Rosen, chief archaeological expert from the British Museum, considered them to be more outstanding than the Terracotta Army in Xi'an. The first exhibits of Sanxingdui bronzes were held in Beijing (1987, 1990) and the Olympic Museum in Lausanne (1993).
Nevertheless, despite the interest in the excavated finds, the site suffered from and pollution. For this reason the site was included in the 1996 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund. World Monuments Fund – San Xing Dui Archaeological Site For the preservation of the site, funding was offered by American Express to construct a protective dike. Also, in 1997, the Sanxingdui Museum opened near the original site.
In March 2021, more than 500 cultural relics, including a 3,000-year-old gold mask, were discovered at Sanxingdui at a 4.6-square-mile area outside the provincial capital of Chengdu. The mask is estimated to be made from 84% gold and weighs 280 grams (0.6 pounds). According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the items were recovered from six newly discovered "sacrificial pits". Additional masks, jade tools, and ivory relics were also discovered in the pit. The six pits were discovered at the Sanxingdui site between 2020 and 2022 during a renewed slate of excavations. The artifacts found in these excavations include fragments of a gold mask, traces of silk, bronze ware depicting animals, ivory carvings, and more. A round of excavations is scheduled to conclude in October 2022.Solly, Meilan, Trove of 13,000 Artifacts Sheds Light on Enigmatic Chinese Civilization, Smithsonian Magazine, June 14, 2022 with images and links
The culture was governed by a strong central theocracy with trade links to bronze from Yinxu and ivory from South Asia.
The most striking finds were dozens of large bronze masks and heads (at least six heads with gold foil masks originally attached) represented with angular human features, exaggerated almond-shaped eyes, some with protruding pupils, and large upper ears. Many Sanxingdui bronze faces had traces of paint smears: black on the disproportionately large eyes and eyebrows, and vermilion on the lips, nostrils, and ear holes.Xu (2001:66) According to the French sinologist Corinne Debaine-Francfort, these colours provide evidence for ritual practices that were very different from those of the Shang dynasty.Debaine-Francfort (1999:67) Vermilion is interpreted "not be coloring but something ritually offered for the head to taste, smell, and hear (or something that gave it the power to breathe, hear, and speak)". Based upon the design of these heads, archaeologists believe they were mounted on wooden supports or , perhaps dressed in clothing.Liu (2000:37) Liu Yang concludes "masked ritual played a vital role in community life of the ancient Sanxingdui inhabitants", and he characterizes these bronze ritual masks as something that may have been worn by a shi () "personator, impersonator; ceremonial representative of a dead relative".(compare Paper 1995:82)
The shi was generally a close, young relative who wore a costume (possibly including a mask) reproducing the features of the dead person. The shi was an impersonator, that is, a person serving as a reminder of the ancestor to whom sacrifice was being offered. During such a ceremony, the impersonator was much more than an actor in a drama. Although the exact meaning may have been different, the group of Sanxingdui masked figures in bronze all have the character of an impersonator. It is likely the masks were used to impersonate and identify with certain supernatural beings in order to effect some communal good.Another scholarCarr (2007:401) compares these "bulging-eyed, big-eared, bronze heads and masks" with "eye-idols" (effigies with large eyes and open mouths designed to induce hallucinations) in Julian Jaynes's bicameral mentality hypothesis; and Carr (2007:403) proposes, "it is possible that southern Chinese personators wore these hypnotic bronze masks, recursively representing the spirit of a dead ancestor with a mask that represents a face disguised by a mask".
Other bronze artifacts include birds with eagle-like bills, tigers, a large snake, zoomorphic masks, bells, and what appears to be a bronze spoked wheel but is more likely to be decoration from an ancient shield. Apart from bronze, Sanxingdui finds included jade artifacts consistent with earlier neolithic cultures in China, such as cong and zhang.
Since these four animals—birds, dragons, snakes, and tigers—predominate the finds at Sanxingdui, the bronzes might represent the universe. It is unclear whether they formed part of ritual events designed to communicate with the spirits of the universe (or ancestral spirits). As no written records remain it is difficult to determine the intended uses of objects found. Some believe that the continued prevalence of depictions of these animals, especially in the later Han period, was an attempt by humans to "fit into" their understanding of their world, their cosmology. (The jades that were found at Sanxingdui also seem to correlate with the six known types of ritual jades of ancient China, again each might be associated with a compass point (N, S, E, W) plus the heavens and earth.)
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