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Cold and mysterious Quickly entered the public eye
Finishing: Yi Xudong Editorial Department of the History of Bashu
"Sleep for three thousand years, wake up and shock the world." In 1986, the Sanxingdui site that shocked the world, and in 2021, 6 new ancient Shu sacrifice pits were discovered, which "shocked the world again" with a large number of major new discoveries. According to a report by China News Network on September 8, the archaeological excavation process of the six newly discovered sacrifice pits at the Sanxingdui site is more than halfway through, and nearly 10,000 cultural relics have been excavated. Below, the author will lead you to understand some of the major discoveries of sanxingdui archaeology in 2021.
In July 1986, the busy and tense archaeological site of the No. 1 Sacrifice Pit of Sanxingdui Ruins (Ao Tianzhao photo)
It took 4 months to extract and excavate
Recently, a bronze sacred tree was found again in the No. 3 sacrifice pit of the Sanxingdui site. According to the news, in March 2021, the fragment of this bronze sacred tree was exposed in the No. 3 sacrifice pit, and then the sun wheel decorations, branches, flower buds and other components were found. Because the trunk and other artifacts such as ivory were attached together, archaeologists spent four months until July 15, 2021, when it was extracted.
Some damaged bronze sacred trees were also excavated in the No. 2 sacrificial pit of the Sanxingdui site excavated in 1986, and due to the serious damage, it took experts many years to repair them, but they were still incomplete, especially some components were not found.
In April 2021, the preliminary restoration effect of the Sacred Tree of no. 3 Sacrifice Pit at the Sanxingdui Site was announced, and overall, the sacred tree was divided into three layers: the first layer was single branches, the second layer was double branches, and the third layer of trunks stood on top of the human head bird figure. The base is made up of 3 main trunks, each cast in pairs, twisted in shape, and wrapped in gold leaf.
Experts said that after observation, it was found that the excavated No. 3 sacrificial pit sacred tree and the No. 2 sacrificial pit sacred tree, whether in shape or volume, are very similar, and even do not rule out that they originally belonged to the same sacred tree, if they can be spliced together, they can explain many academic problems.
Sanxingdui copper bell (Sanxingdui Museum courtesy photo)
Silk fabrics were first discovered
No. 8 sacrifice pit unearthed a bronze fragment attached to the silk physical residue, the longitude and latitude organization is very obvious, the surface layer has a layer of similar to the coating of the attachment, the size of 1.8 cm × 0.8 cm, is the most obvious and largest area of silk residue found in Sanxingdui. This also indicates that the Sanxingdui Kingdom, more than 3,000 years ago, had begun to use silk.
Silk fabrics are one of the most exciting discoveries in the Sanxingdui excavations. The reason why the physical residue of silk can be preserved is mainly because the bronze provides a living condition for it, and the rust of the bronze has an antibacterial effect, so it is retained on the bronze.
Silk fabrics excavated from the No. 8 sacrifice pit of Sanxingdui site (Courtesy of Sanxingdui Research Institute of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)
Gold leaves or decorated with bronze sacred trees
At present, there are more than 160 gold leaf ornaments found in pit No. 8, of which about 60 have leaf vein-like patterns and perforations. According to the researchers, the processing technology of gold leaf ornaments has several possibilities such as molding, embossing, hammering and so on. Among them, the hammer is characterized by a groove on the front of the gold leaf, a bulge underneath, and a pattern on only one side may be embossed.
Regarding the use of gold ornaments, especially gold leaves, it is possible that they are hanging from bronze trees. However, considering that there are also fragments of gold masks unearthed in the No. 8 sacrifice pit, the researchers also believe that these ornaments may also be decorations on clothes.
Gold leaves excavated from no. 8 sacrifice pit of Sanxingdui site (Courtesy of Sanxingdui Research Institute of Sichuan Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)
Extract "Copper Head Kneeling Portrait"
In the No. 4 sacrifice pit of the Sanxingdui site, a strange bronze figure was found - 3 bronze kneeling portraits with twisted heads. The figures sit on their knees, hands folded, heads twisted to the right, and a long strip of bronze attached to their heads. Archaeologists speculate that the three portraits may be a set of assemblages.
A bronze statue of a national treasure-level cultural relic was also unearthed. Wang Wei, chairman of the Chinese Archaeological Society, said: Judging from the posture of the bronze-crowned statue, it is obvious that it is a posture that is sacrificed or is offering to the gods, and the cultural relics are very important artifacts for the study of Sanxingdui religious beliefs, sanxingdui and the relationship between the Shang Dynasty.
Bronze kneeling portrait excavated from no. 4 sacrifice pit of Sanxingdui site (Courtesy of Sanxingdui Research Institute of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)
Discover the "Drums" instrument
Pit 8 also features a trumpet-like bronze vessel in the dirt. It has perforated edges, a cinnabar filling in the middle, and a brass bell found next to it. Excavators speculate that the horn-like artifact may have been a brass drum. Previously, several stone slabs had been unearthed from the No. 8 sacrificial pit, and experts were surprised to find that it may be a stone chime. From the excavation of various musical instruments, it is conceivable that 3,000 years ago, sanxing played a grand scene of liturgical music.
Emerald green throughout resembles "emerald"
In the Sanxingdui series of live broadcasts, netizens saw a green ivory in the Cultural Protection Center of the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, which was particularly special. It is understood that ivory is generally white and light white, which will become light yellow, dark yellow, and finally yellowish brown after being placed for a certain age. And this emerald green tusk, experts say, because it fits very tightly with the bronze in the pit, for thousands of years, the rust produced by the corrosion of the bronze dissolved in the soil, so it was immersed in the surface of the ivory.
Excavation of artifacts from no. 8 sacrificial pit at Sanxingdui Site (Courtesy of Sanxingdui Research Institute of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, photo by Yu Jia)
The first piece of extraction is Ling Yuyi
Successfully extracted a piece of collared jade at the site of sanxingdui site. This piece of jade is soft in luster and has a "collar" in the middle, which is relatively well preserved. This is the first piece of the no. 8 sacrificial pit successfully extracted with a collared jade. In fact, this is not the first piece of jade found in pit 8, and 9 similar jade objects have been extracted before, most of which are complete.
Sanxingdui has a collar (Sanxingdui Museum photo)
The golden mask "bumps face" the ancient civilizations of the three continents
On September 9, 2021, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology announced a batch of the latest archaeological discoveries of Sanxingdui, and a complete golden mask in large and small cultural relics is particularly eye-catching. This golden mask, excavated from the No. 3 sacrifice pit at the Sanxingdui site in mid-June 2021, is slightly larger than a normal human face, and archaeologists believe it is attached to the bronze figure, mainly to increase the mystery of the bronze statue or wizard, giving people the ability to communicate with the gods. People were surprised to find that this golden mask "collided" with the golden masks of ancient Egyptian, Greek and American civilizations.
The Divine Tree Pattern Jade Had Never Been Seen Before
The sacred tree pattern jade found in the No. 3 sacrifice pit is made of a whole piece of gray and white jade, and the corresponding two sides of the line are engraved with the pattern of the sacred tree, and the notch marks are very shallow. The jade tree with the pattern of the sacred tree has never been seen before, which provides an important basis for modern people to study the meaning and symbolism of the sacred tree in ancient Shu society.
The beast-faced phoenix-patterned jade square seat has never been seen before
The animal-faced phoenix-patterned jade square seat found in pit No. 3 is 13 cm long, 9 cm wide and 6 cm high, and the whole piece of blue-gray jade is cut. The artifact is cuboid with a round hole in the upper surface. The side line of the square seat is engraved with animal face pattern and phoenix pattern, which is typical of the Sanxingdui style. Jade pedestals of this shape and ornament have never been seen before.
The large altar recreates the sacrificial scene
The newly discovered bronze altar in Pit No. 8 is huge in size and strange in shape, and can be seen to be divided into three parts: the base, the human figure and the sacred beast. The base is divided into 3 layers, gradually shrinking, the first layer of the base is a plain surface, the second layer of the base surface has a bas-relief ornament, and the third layer of the base is hollowed out. Above the base is a platform with 3 groups of portraits cast. On the bronze altar discovered this time, the different images of many people seem to describe the roles and behaviors of different people in the sacrifice activities at that time, reproducing the scene of the sacrifice at that time, and providing very important information for studying how the sacrifice activities were carried out and how the Sanxingdui sacrifice pit was formed.
Discover the largest bronze work of animal shapes
The large bronze standing beast found in pit 8 is covered in ash layers and a small number of ivory fragments. The head has a single horn, and above the single horn stands a bronze figure. The entire piece is about 90 cm high and 85 cm long. This large bronze sacred beast is the largest of the animal-shaped bronze works seen in Sanxingdui at present.
Sanxingdui three-piece complete set phenomenon
The cultural relics excavated from the Sanxingdui site have always existed in 3 complete sets. The 9 pieces of copper beast face excavation are clearly divided into 3 categories, the standing bird of the No. 1 sacred tree has 3 crown feathers, and the number of copper sun shapers and convex human faces is a multiple of 3.
The human head bird figure of the No. 3 sacred tree was found to be the shape of the three human head bird figures with outward bodies, wings spread, and standing majestically on the flower buds of the sacred tree.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency, CCTV, Guangming Network, Sohu Network)