The Sanxingdui site in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, is known as "one of the most important archaeological discoveries of mankind in the 20th century", of which the bronze Daliren excavated in 1986 is the largest bronze statue in the world at the same time, and it is also a national treasure-level cultural relics that China "prohibits from exhibiting abroad".
Recently, a number of scholars have debated this in a CCTV program, saying that the bronze Dali people may be holding ivory or standing birds, or they may not be holding anything at all.
The bronze Da Li Man was excavated from the No. 2 sacrifice pit of the Sanxingdui site, and the bronze statue and the base were 2.62 meters high, and the bronze statue was hollow and weighed about 180 kilograms. When the bronze Dali man was excavated, it was broken into two pieces from the waist, the back was broken and deformed, experts speculated that it was smashed before it was buried, and the bronze statue was successfully restored and is now in the Sanxingdui Museum. The bronze Daliren, which has been more than 3,000 years old, is the largest bronze statue in the world at the same time, and it is also a national treasure-level cultural relic that China "prohibits from participating in exhibitions abroad".
The face shape of the bronze Dali people is very unique, the eyes are prominent, the ears are waving, the nose is high, and the lips are slender. Carefully observing the costumes of the bronze statue, it can be seen that it is wearing narrow-sleeved clothes, the left side, the back end of the clothes is swallowtail-shaped, the pattern is mainly dragon pattern, and there are animal face patterns, bird patterns, insect patterns, and ripple patterns, which are complex and exquisite, and are known as "The earliest dragon robes in China".
For such a figure dressed in Chinese clothes and standing on a high platform, there are many theories in the academic circles such as the Great Wizard, the King of Shu or the Great Wizard and the King of Shu, which shows that the bronze statue should represent the upper nobility who holds religious power or administrative power.
The bronze statue is most strikingly known for its large hands, which are disproportionate to the body: the right hand is raised high to the face, the left hand is placed on the chest, and the thumbs of both hands form a ring with the other four fingers, as if holding an object.
Since the excavation, there have been scholars on the bronze Da Li people holding in the hands of the "object" to carry out inference and research, in the January 2 broadcast of the CCTV program "Chinese Archaeological Conference", Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology Sanxingdui Site Workstation Director, Sanxingdui Museum Director Lei Yu said that if you carefully observe the gesture of the bronze statue, found that the empty part of the hands is not in a straight line, so he believes that the bronze statue holds ivory, because the upright thing should not be inserted, and the bronze statue has a round hole in both hands. It is also similar to the shape of ivory.
However, Chen Xiandan, former vice president and researcher of the Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, believes that the bronze statue does not hold anything in both hands, and the gesture of the hands may be a gesture compared to the time of sacrifice. He added that Sanxingdui once unearthed portraits of people holding artifacts, and the gesture of holding things was not like this.
As for Wang Wei, director of the Department of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and chairman of the Chinese Archaeological Society, he said that Sanxingdui once unearthed a figure holding a standing bird, and he paid great attention to this information and continued to explore the unsolved mystery of the bronze standing figure.
Looking through the information, in addition to the above statements, other scholars have also proposed bronze da liren or holding scepters, jade and other items.