Sanxingdui recently unearthed the world's largest bronze mask
Officially released at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala!
Ran Honglin, director of the Sanxingdui Archaeological Research Institute of the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, deputy director of the Sanxingdui Museum, and head of the archaeological excavation site in the Sanxingdui Sacrifice Area, and Zhang Guoguo, the host of the "National Treasure" program, officially released this major archaeological achievement to the people of the whole country on the spot, sent a special New Year gift to the national audience, and also paid tribute to the centenary of Chinese archaeology.
The largest bronze mask in the world
On the afternoon of June 23, 2021, with the amazement and cheers of all the Sanxingdui archaeologists, this bronze mask broke through the ground and came to the world!
It is more than 3,000 years old and is the largest and most complete bronze mask known today.
Sanxingdui recently unearthed the world's largest bronze mask photo by Jiang Cong
This large bronze mask is 131 cm wide, 71 cm high, 66 cm deep and weighs 65.5 kg, which is the largest bronze mask with the most complete shape, the largest volume and the best preservation condition unearthed in the world.
The eyebrows, eyes, and lips of the mask are smooth and angular, the mask is "U" shaped, wide and wide, thick and long eyebrows are raised, and the solemn expression conveys a sense of prestige.
In addition, there are square perforations on both sides of the mask and in the middle of the forehead, which may be used as a fixation. Bronze masks are typical artifacts in the Sanxingdui culture, and in general, they should be artifacts placed in temples for worship.
According to Ran Honglin, when the mask was unearthed, the face was facing downwards, the tip of the nose was buried deep in the loess soil, and nearly ten tusks of ivory were stacked on it. After more than three months of meticulous cleaning, the bronze mask was fully exposed.
On June 23, 2021, archaeologists extracted the masks out of the pit according to a carefully formulated plan.
The bronze mask was extracted from the unearthed moment yu Jia photographed
It is worth mentioning that this mask is very well preserved, only the left ear is detached, and there is a slight defect behind the left cheek and the corner of the mouth.
The cultural security personnel analyzed and studied the casting process of the bronze mask, and its production was first cast and formed, and the face, the back of the cheek, the eyes, the ears and other parts were cast separately, and then welded and combined into one.
This is not only the perfect combination of bronze technology and art, but also a unique expression of the spiritual world of the ancient Shu people.
In addition, silk residues were also found in the right eye of this mask, and the combination of silk and masks that were believed to have the function of "heaven and theosophical" in the ancient Shu civilization highlighted the connotation of sacred sacrifice and became an important physical evidence for the study of Sanxingdui silk.
Silk residues were found in the right eye of the mask
Stand out from three national treasures
Why did sanxingdui bronze mask travel thousands of miles from Guanghan in Sichuan to Beijing to debut at the Spring Festival Gala?
On the spring evening of CCTV in the Year of the Ox, the head of the Tianlong Mountain Buddha who returned to China from Japan made a stunning appearance and became the hottest topic of the night.
In 2021, coinciding with the centenary of the birth of modern Chinese archaeology, sanxingdui archaeological excavations also continue to attract the attention of the Chinese people, which can be described as an active exploration of modern archaeology with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style and Chinese style.
It is in this context that Sanxingdui was invited to the CCTV Spring Festival Gala to tell the story of the diversity and unity of Chinese civilization and its profundity. This is also the first time that the newly unearthed large mask has "fully exposed" to meet the general audience.
Chuanguan News reporter Xiang Yu photographed
A new round of archaeological excavations in the Sanxingdui sacrifice area has unearthed more than 2,000 complete artifacts so far. Among them, many cultural relics such as copper zun, copper temple, jade zhang, and jade Qun show the close connection between Shudi and the culture of the Central Plains and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which empirically demonstrates the historical development process of the pluralism and integration of Chinese civilization, which is of great significance for further building the Chinese cultural identification system and casting a solid sense of community of the Chinese nation.
Among these cultural relics, the imaginative and exquisite bronze-topped statue of a kneeling figure, the same copper round mouth Fangzun in the National Palace Museum in Taipei and other cultural relics are very distinctive, but in the end, the program team chose a large bronze mask with large enough volume, visual impact and the most characteristics of Sanxingdui as a representative of the new archaeological discoveries.
A new round of archaeological exploration and excavation in the Sanxingdui Sacrifice Area was launched in 2019, and from the end of 2019 to the first half of 2020, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Sichuan Guanghan Sanxingdui Museum jointly explored and discovered six sacrifice pits near the No. 1 and No. 2 pits excavated in 1986. With the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, in October 2020, the official archaeological excavation of the newly discovered pit began.
By the end of 2021, more than 10,000 cultural relics have been excavated from the six sacrificial pits of Sanxingdui, and silk from more than 3,000 years ago has been discovered for the first time; the largest gold mask of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties has been discovered; and the technical problems of ivory protection are also expected to make new breakthroughs... In particular, a large number of cultural relics closely related to the culture of the Central Plains and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River have been excavated again, which proves the historical development process of the pluralism and integration of Chinese civilization with archaeological results, which is of great significance for deepening the study of Chinese civilization and empirically demonstrating the continuous and eclectic development of Chinese civilization.
Unveiling the national treasure Spring Festival Gala "business trip" behind the scenes
Sanxingdui bronze masks have been buried underground for more than 3,000 years, how do precious and fragile cultural relics be transported from Sichuan to Beijing? How to ensure the safety of cultural relics throughout the process?
It is understood that the "business trip" of the national treasure not only alarmed the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, but also enjoyed super treatment such as transporting third-level guards, waiting for a special VIP room, and escorted by cultural security experts... It turns out that on the star-studded Spring Festival Gala stage, the biggest "wrist" is actually it!
The national treasure "business trip" program is first
In November 2021, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, which is responsible for the archaeological excavation of the Sanxingdui Sacrifice Area, received an invitation call from the CCTV Spring Festival Gala program group.
Let the artifacts on a variety show? Archaeologists who have always regarded cultural relics as life are very cautious. Although last year's CCTV Spring Festival evening, the debut of the Tianlong Mountain Buddha, who returned to China from Japan, caused a huge sensation. However, what if the cultural relics travel a long distance to Beijing and there is a safety accident?
To this end, the Central Radio and Television Corporation specially asked the State Administration of Cultural Heritage to obtain strong support. In this context, Sichuan organized relevant cultural and cultural institutions to form a special work class, carefully formulated a cultural relics safety guarantee plan, and carefully implemented cultural relics cleaning, packaging, transportation, unloading, exhibition, guarding, protection and other work.
The staff is carrying out the transport packaging of the large bronze mask
If a national treasure wants to meet the people of the whole country, it is impossible to be "disheveled."
Ren Junfeng, a staff member of the Cultural Protection Center of the Sichuan Academy of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Yu Jian, director of the Cultural Protection Center of the Sanxingdui Museum, are cultural protection experts who entered Beijing with cultural relics this time. According to the two people, after the bronze mask was unearthed, there was actually a situation of rust and soil on the surface, which looked particularly "vicissitudes".
In addition, the mask has lost its left ear and is slightly mutilated behind the left cheek and at the corner of the mouth. Therefore, after the excavation of cultural relics, cultural protection experts have targeted the removal of mud stains, mud covers, cementites and rust on the surface after scientific research and analysis of mask diseases to ensure the stability of the cultural relics.
It is the big mask that has been methodically cleaned up and has enough sanxingdui characteristics to be selected in one fell swoop.
Cultural security experts are detecting and cleaning up large masks
Since then, the cultural relics restoration team led by Guo Hanzhong, a cultural relics restorer at Sanxingdui Museum, has followed the principle of least intervention, carefully designed the reinforcement and protection scheme of cultural relics, and used stainless steel structure brackets for complete physical reinforcement to ensure that the status of cultural relics meets the requirements of transportation and display.
In particular, it is worth mentioning that the precious silk residue attached to the right eye of the bronze mask was also extracted, and finally had the vigor of the large mask on the Spring Festival Gala program.
The cultural security expert physically fixed the mask with a stainless steel strip
Ensure foolproof transportation throughout the entire journey
Ren Junfeng introduced that the company responsible for transporting national treasures has a detailed plan from the beginning of the packaging process. They went to the Sanxingdui Museum in advance and used 3D printing technology to make a replica model of the original scale cultural relics, and used the model to simulate the packaging drill.
Due to the severe corrosion of the right eye of the mask and the fragility of the left ear, the left ear is broken and detached, and the mask and the left ear are packaged separately to avoid bumping. The packaging is also exquisite, according to the size of the mask to customize the inner and outer two layers of packaging boxes, and then fill the middle with shock absorbing materials to alleviate the impact of cultural relics in transportation.
The vehicle responsible for transportation has its own temperature and humidity control device and an air cushion "shock absorption" system, so that the environment in which the mask is located is always in a stable state. From Guanghan, Sichuan to Beijing is about 2,000 kilometers, how to ensure the safety of cultural relics at night if it cannot be reached in one day?
Under the coordination of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the museum and the carrier have developed a reasonable transportation route, accompanied by security personnel throughout the journey, and all the vehicles enter the local museum overnight to ensure that nothing is lost.
After arriving in Beijing, cultural relics are also moved to the museum cultural relics warehouse that meets the environmental and security standards for cultural relics storage.
Large masks are packed into boxes and fed into the transport vehicle
The biggest "wrist" of the Spring Festival Gala
As we all know, the CCTV Spring Festival Gala has to carry out many rehearsals before broadcasting, so can the big mask withstand round after round of rehearsal toss?
Yu Jian introduced that whether it is the rehearsal or the side row of the Spring Festival Gala, the appearances are all 3D models of cultural relics. Only two live broadcasts were prepared and broadcast live, and the big mask appeared in person.
The "specifications" of these two appearances are not small. On the way from the "borrowed" museum to the CCTV live broadcast room, the transport company applied to the local public security bureau to enforce the third-level security to ensure the smooth and safe transportation of cultural relics.
When it came to the TV station, the program team specially arranged a separate passage for the cultural relics to directly enter the first VIP room "waiting", entered the room, and there were security personnel outside the gate to prevent idle people from approaching. The section from the TV station parking lot to the VIP room and from the VIP room to the studio was also cleared.
In the VIP room, the cultural security experts first installed the detached ears on the mask for physical fixation, and then together with the staff of the transportation company, the mask was delivered to the studio through a customized cultural relics transportation platform.
According to reports, sanxingdui bronze mask will soon return to Guanghan after the end of this "business trip" mission. In the future, the audience is expected to continue to see it at the Sanxingdui Museum Cultural Protection Center.
More than 3,000 years ago, the ancient Shu people used it to communicate with the gods
Since 1986, when Sanxingdui "woke up to the world", 8 "pits" have been discovered at the Sanxingdui site, and a large number of exquisite bronzes, jade, gold, ivory and other cultural relics have been unearthed. These pits are generally called "sacrificial pits" in academia.
Sanxingdui archaeological excavation cabin Chuanguan News reporter Xiang Yu photographed
The cultural relics unearthed here are not tomb attachments at all.
Academic circles have found that whether it is the bronze Da Liren, the bronze sacred tree, the bronze mask, as well as the national treasure cultural relics bronze statues and bronze altars discovered last year, they all clearly point to sanxingdui as an ancient theocratic country, and these artifacts were the medium used to communicate with the gods of heaven and earth at that time and were used for sacrifice.
The sacrificial mountain Yuzhang unearthed from Sanxingdui clearly engraved the sacrificial scene at that time. From this point of view, the cultural relics unearthed by Sanxingdui are more auspicious than the burial products.
At present, there is a view in the academic community that among the 8 "sacrifice pits" in Sanxingdui, the other 6 pits other than the No. 5 and No. 6 pits may be the burial places of sacrificial artifacts caused by some external factors, and the no. 5 and No. 6 pits of gold masks and mysterious wooden boxes unearthed may be the sacrifices.
In general, the area where the 8 pits are located is the sacrificial area of the ancient Shu Kingdom.
This "big name" gave the audience of the Spring Festival Gala of the main station a big surprise.
Have you ever been amazed by the large bronze mask?
Comprehensive Sichuan View News, CCTV News
Source: CCTV