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Sacrificial pits – temples – theocratic state
——Try to analyze the mystery of Sanxingdui
Zhao Dianzeng
"Sleep for thousands of years, wake up and shock the world", the inscription of General Zhang Aiping, who was the minister of national defense, tells the powerful influence of the new archaeological discoveries in Sanxingdui. The No. 1 and No. 2 sacrificial pits excavated in 1986 are like two huge ancient "blind boxes", which not only bring treasures and surprises to people, but also bring mysteries and controversies. What is its nature? Where did it come from? Where did it go? Why are there so many strange large bronze figures and utensils? A relatively unified understanding has not yet been formed. Since 2019, 6 large sacrificial pits have been found at the same site, and through high-level archaeological excavations and high-standard live television broadcasts, they have once again "woken up to the world", and people think that the mystery of the "blind box" can be completely solved. Now that most of the sacrificial pits have been excavated more than halfway, the Sanxingdui "blind box" has gradually opened, and a large number of treasures have appeared, bringing more puzzles. When the new 6 sacrificial pits were first discovered, both schools of theorists thought they were right: "buried pits" theorists thought that these pits were buried "once" and could prove that they were caused by the "annihilation of the country"; the "sacrificial pits" theorists thought that these pits could not be destroyed at the same time, so they proposed that "the country cannot be destroyed 8 times"! It seems that the opening of many "blind boxes" is only the tip of the iceberg of unveiling the "big blind box" of Sanxingdui, and people all over the world are paying attention to what is in this "big blind box"? This is probably the most fascinating thing about Sanxingdui.
I have been fortunate to participate in the archaeological research of Sanxingdui since 1980, and have done some comprehensive research and written some articles on the basis of the results of the excavation leaders and predecessors. Sanxingdui Museum once published a collection of essays for me, "Archaeological Research on Sanxingdui" (Sichuan People's Publishing House, 2004), and Mr. Li Xueqin organized us to compile the national "Ninth Five-Year Plan" key book "Early Chinese Civilization Series", and I wrote one of the volumes "Sanxingdui Culture and Bashu Civilization" (Jiangsu Education Publishing House, 2005). After commemorating the 30th anniversary of the excavation of the Sanxingdui Sacrifice Pit in 2016, I wrote and published more than 10 articles on the appointment to talk about new views on macro issues, which were welcomed by the society. Combined with the recent new archaeological discoveries, I will briefly summarize my own views, focusing on the nature and naming of the Sanxingdui sacrifice pit, the construction and destruction of large temples, and the reasons for the rise and fall of the theocratic state, for your research and reference, inspection and verification.
The mystery of the sacrificial pit
Now that the new excavation work is nearing the end, the situation of the 8 sacrificial pits is gradually becoming clear, but the reasons for the formation and interrelationships have not been solved, and the interest and discussion at home and abroad have increased, and they are concentrating on the excavation and research process of the "Sanxingdui Big Blind Box".
Regarding the "discussion on the current focus of Sanxingdui", Mr. Wang Wei, president of the Chinese Archaeological Society and head of the Sanxingdui excavation consulting team, said: "The pit-like relics found in Sanxingdui should be closely related to sacrifices, not buried at the same time, nor buried after the destruction of Sanxingdui by hostile groups; there is no sign of violent substitution between Sanxingdui and Jinsha; bronze masks are mythological products based on the facial characteristics of locals; the use of writing by Sanxingdui culture is unlikely, but it does not affect the status of Sanxingdui civilization." "This may be an objective and fair evaluation of the two sacrificial pits excavated by Sanxingdui in 1986 and the six newly excavated sacrificial pits that are more comprehensive and clear and leave room for manoeuvre."
After several site visits, especially recent live television and media reports, after seeing the excavations of each pit so far, my view of "8 pits is not at the same time" is more clear. Because the direction of each pit is basically the same, but the size and shape, burial method, and type of utensils are different. Judging from the orderly distribution of each pit, the relatively similar artifacts, and the generally same layer, the burial dates of the eight sacrificial pits do not seem to be very long. Among them, only the shape, direction, size and ivory, utensils, and layered placement methods of no. 2 and no. 3 sacrifice pits are basically the same, and it is possible that they should be at the same time; while the No. 6 sacrifice pit breaks the No. 7 sacrifice pit, which may be the latest.
The area of the 8 sacrificial pits is relatively similar, and can be roughly divided into four classes:
Large pits: No. 1, bottom area 12.48 m2; No. 7, 14 m2; No. 8, 19 m2.
Subtype pit: No. 2, bottom area 10 square meters; No. 3, 11 square meters.
Medium pit: No. 4, 8.4 m2.
Small pits: 5, 3.5 m2; 6, 4.1 m2.
From the current situation, the formation of these 8 sacrificial pits seems to have an intrinsic connection, which may be the result of a series of purposeful, related, phased, and gradually completed sacrifice activities for some similar special reason. Here, it is impossible to discuss in detail the specific conditions and similarities and differences of each pit, but I can only first sort out my preliminary understanding of the relationship and nature of them and explore the possible reasons. My brief observations are:
Pit No. 1 was the earliest and may have been associated with plagues and sacrifices to the "king".
Sacrificial pits No. 2 and No. 3 are about the same time, and may be related to large-scale sacrifices using the main artifacts in the "temple".
Pit 4 is smaller, perhaps later, and may have used some peculiar artifacts and burial methods during the sacrifice.
The postage of the sacrificial pit No. 8 may be related to the final destruction of the large "temple". Since the No. 7 sacrificial pit has not yet been excavated, judging from the shape, direction and size of the pit, it is likely that the time and nature of the No. 8 sacrificial pit are close.
Pit 5 may be a small, high-level solo sacrifice, before or after the destruction of the large temple (i.e., pit 8 is formed), remains to be studied.
The No. 6 sacrifice pit may be the remnants of the "remnants" after the ancient capital of Sanxingdui moved to the capital, and after a few years, they came to the sacrifice area again for "sacrifice".
After extensive surveys and excavations, no other large sacrificial pits have been found around this area, and it may be that these 8 sacrificial pits constitute a history of the use and development of the "Sanxingdui Central Sacrifice Area". At the end of June 2021, I wrote the above views to the unit "Opinions and Suggestions", here I will talk about my specific views and reasons, and discuss with you.
In the early days of the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, I had the conjecture that "Sanxingdui No. 1 sacrifice pit may be because of the plague", because the three bone slag in the No. 1 sacrifice pit contained some bones. Of the 8 sacrificial pits, only Pit No. 1 contains a large amount of bone residue containing human bones. This situation indicates that the corpses of people who may have died due to the plague were burned and buried together with the bones of the beasts, and the ancients of Sanxingdui may have hoped to eliminate and avoid the ominous disaster in this special way of sacrifice. In this plague, it is possible that even the chief of the group of witches (the king) died together, so in this first large-scale "fire sacrifice", the golden staff used by the king was placed in the center of the sacrifice pit, and some bronze heads, bronze and jade ceremonial vessels were placed, and a large amount of bone slag containing human bones was dumped into the pit to the northwest, buried and compacted together. Judging from the opening strata of the No. 1 sacrifice pit, the shape of the earth pit, the characteristics of the utensils, the burial method, the accumulation of bone residue and the architectural remains at the mouth of the pit, it is likely to be the earliest of the 8 large sacrifice pits.
This was sanxingdui's first super-large-scale fire sacrifice and burial activity. However, the situation may not have improved, but intensified, so people believed that these artifacts had "failed", so they used a large number of gods, ceremonial objects, sacrifices, ivory, etc. in the temple to continue a larger-scale solemn burning ceremony, so as to send them all back to the heavens and the divine realm, begging the heavens and gods to bring them good luck again. Among them, the No. 2 and No. 3 sacrificial pits may be the largest group of simultaneous sacrifices buried; the No. 4 sacrificial pits may use strange artifacts and sacrifice methods. At the time of the last sacrifice, it may be buried in the pit (i.e., sacrificial pits 7 and 8) along with the burned and abandoned temple walls and many remaining sacrifices, thus forming an orderly arrangement of many sacrificial pits in the "Sanxingdui Central Sacrifice Area". But the disaster did not end because of this, and finally the Sanxingdui people had to move their capital to Jinsha and other places, and the sanxingdui ancient country has since declined.
As for the No. 6 sacrifice pit that broke the No. 7 sacrifice pit, it may be the "remnants" of the sanxingdui ancient country, who came here a few years after moving the capital, and then came here to carry out the "sacrifice" ceremony, so there was a situation of breaking the original sacrifice pit and layout. The No. 5 small sacrifice pit where many gold objects are buried may be a separate high-specification sacrifice, because its size, direction and location are relatively close to the No. 6 sacrifice pit, it is not excluded that it is also the possibility that after the relocation of the capital of Sanxingdui, the "remnants" of the ancient country came here again to "sacrifice" the ruins.
These speculations are some of my personal preliminary views, put forward for your reference, and need to be checked and verified through comprehensive excavation and formation analysis, artifact research, dating and other achievements.
Regarding the nature and name of the sacrificial pit, I have always supported the opinions of Chen De'an and Chen Xiandan, and simplified it to "Regarding the naming of the Sanxingdui sacrificial pit, we believe that there are three main reasons: first, the artifacts in the pit are basically idols and ritual sacrifices used for sacrifice; second, various sacrificial ritual activities were held before the burial, with specific religious sacrifice content and meaning; third, the sacrificial pit is the result of the final formation of religious ritual activities." Many of the artifacts were broken and burned before they were buried, and should belong to the common fire sacrifice or fistula burial in the ancient ritual sacrifices to indicate that they were eventually sent to the heavens and the divine realm. As for the specific reasons for each burning or burial and the purpose to be achieved, it is necessary to carefully analyze and study the specific connotations of each pit. There are also many large and small sacrificial pits found in the Sanxingdui site, and the shape system can be roughly divided into several types, such as large rectangular pits, medium-sized rectangular pits, braised earth pits, irregular shallow pits, small round pits, etc. In the culture of the Sanxingdui sites, the third period is the largest and largest. They are not only the final result of various sacrifice activities, but also a concrete reflection of the magical cultural appearance of the "Sanxingdui Theocratic Ancient Country". So far, most of the precious cultural relics in the Sanxingdui site have been excavated in these sacrificial pits, making it the most important representative cultural relics of the Sanxingdui culture. Some people also refer to this kind of pit as the "ash pit where the sacrificial artifacts are buried", which is actually the "sacrificial pit". In my article "Archaeological Discoveries of Sanxingdui and the Study of the Ancient History of Bashu" published in Sichuan Cultural Relics in 1992, I pointed out that the large sacrifice pits No. 1 and No. 2 "should be the earth pits where the utensils used are buried after the sacrifice activities", so as to "preserve the final state of the sacrifice activities", which is the original meaning of what we call the "Sanxingdui Sacrifice Pit".
The name "sacrificial pit" has been frequently used in official excavation reports, internal and external exhibitions, news media and publicity campaigns. The joint presentation of the eight sacrificial pits this time further shows that they are the result of purposeful, related, phased, and gradual sacrifice activities. The name "sacrifice pit" has been widely understood and accepted by society, and has become an important synonym for representing the specific connotation of Sanxingdui culture. Compared with other names such as "ash pit where sacrificial artifacts are buried", "pit-like ruins closely related to sacrifice", and "buried pit of artifacts", the name "sacrificial pit" is not only simple and clear, but also clear in nature and easy to understand. Therefore, we believe that the unique relic phenomenon of naming the Sanxingdui culture by using the "sacrifice pit" can not only give people a clear concept, but also enhance the distinctiveness and certainty of the Sanxingdui research and publicity, which is still the most appropriate way to name it.
The mystery of the temple
A large number of cultural relics excavated from the 8 large sacrificial pits in the "Sanxingdui Central Sacrifice Area" were originally necessarily placed in some large buildings. From the analysis of the nature of the artifacts, such buildings are most likely to be places of religious sacrifice such as "temples" and "zongmiao", and important clues in this regard have been found in the Sanxingdui site in recent years.
From 2005 to 2013, on the high ground of "Qingguan Mountain" at the highest point in the northwest of Sanxingdui Ancient City, a "big house" of more than 1,000 square meters was excavated, numbered "Qingguanshan F1", with a single rectangle in plan, 64.6 meters long, 15.17 meters wide, and an area of 1,015 square meters, built on a large rammed earth platform of about 16,000 square meters. Some say it's a palace, some say it's a temple, some say it's a warehouse, and some say it's a dry-column building. The 5th issue of Sichuan Cultural Relics in 2020 published the "Excavation Report on the No. 1 Building Base Site of Sanxingdui Site in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province", and at the same time published Mr. Du Jinpeng's article "Preliminary Investigation of the No. 1 Building Base Site of Qingguanshan No. 1 at Sanxingdui Site", which concluded that this "is a pavilion-style building with two floors above and below, belonging to the highest specification palace building of the Shang Dynasty, and may be a ceremonial building for the local supreme ruler to handle government affairs and hold major ceremonies". I still have some doubts about whether it is "a pavilion-style building with two floors above and below" and the structure and nature of "Qingguanshan F1", and I have written an article to discuss with Mr. Du.
I think the newly discovered "big house" (i.e. "Qingguanshan F1") at the Sanxingdui site of Qingguanshan may be a large "temple" located on a high platform. It may be a large single-storey monolith building with a double sloped roof, along the longitudinal axis of a large long strip of house, with a straight and spacious "hall aisle" running through the whole house. There are two gates in the center at both ends of the house, so that the main axis and passage of the entire building are in a southeast-northwest direction (40 degrees west-north), pointing to the sacred mountain where the gods and ancestors are located in the northwest, which has a specific religious significance. On both sides of the passage, a large "wooden platform" is built, facing the central axis passage, which is used to place artifacts such as idol sacrifices; the platform also contains two single rooms constructed with a "U-shaped red-burnt earth wall foundation", which may be used to place large idols or sacrificial vessels for people to sacrifice and worship from the central passage, so that it has the dual functions of preservation place and activity site. At each end of the big house, there is also a large empty room for people to perform collective sacrifices and assembly meetings; as the king of the "chief of the witches", it may be here that the gods and ancestors exercise the right to administer the country, so the big house also has the nature and role of a "temple". Outside the "Big House", there are also wide venues for worship and events. In short, it is a "temple" that can not only place and protect a large number of gods and artifacts and carry out major worship activities, but also a "temple" that can hold important assembly decisions to exercise state power, and may be a religious and political ruling center of the entire "Sanxingdui Theocratic Ancient Kingdom", and the most important building reflecting the form of sacrifice during the prosperity of Sanxingdui.
"Qingguanshan F1" and "This batch of pit-like remains found in Sanxingdui" can be said to be the two most important cultural remains of the Sanxingdui site in addition to the huge ancient city of 3.6 square kilometers, which may have a special relationship between the two and have an intrinsic relationship with the rise and fall of the ancient country of Sanxingdui. Recently, I discussed with friends on WeChat the relationship between the 8 sacrificial pits, and the idea that the big house of Qingguan Mountain may be a large "temple" has also received more support. Recently, I have linked the two to form a general understanding that "from the temple to the sacrificial pit may be the basic process of Sanxingdui's rise and fall."
I think that the artifacts in the eight sacrificial pits may have been mainly stored in "temples" such as "Qingguanshan F1". The rise and construction of these "temples" may be an important symbol of the gradual prosperity of the sanxingdui theocratic ancient kingdom and the development of it into a religious and political center; and the repeated appearance of such a large sacrifice pit next to sanxingdui is a concrete manifestation of the catastrophe and decline of Sanxingdui. From the emergence of the "temple" to the formation of the "sacrifice pit", it may be a history of the rise and fall of the ancient country of Sanxingdui.
Judging from the test excavation of the edge of the rammed earth platform, the "Qingguanshan F1" is built on a large rammed earth platform of tens of thousands of square meters. Rammed earth terraces have been built many times, the thickest point can reach 4 meters, which contains multiple layers of red-boiled earth architectural traces, and the bottom is superimposed with rich "Sanxingdui Phase I culture" relics, indicating that these "temples" where the idol sacrifices are stored began to be built around the time of the rise of the Sanxingdui culture, and after gradual addition and expansion, they are becoming more and more prosperous. The idol sacrifice vessels stored in the temple have also accumulated more and more, more and more complex and exquisite, and gradually developed into the religious and political center of the ancient Shu civilization of Sanxingdui. The "Qingguanshan F1" is probably the latest and largest of these temples. With a series of special large-scale festivals, all the gods and artifacts in the temple were eventually burned and buried, and the temple with the highest specifications and the largest volume was completely destroyed.
We can also learn from the "bronze altar" and other cultural relics that reflect the ritual activities of Sanxingdui, and learn the lofty status of this "temple" in the cultural and religious ceremonies of Sanxingdui.
The "bronze altar" (K2:296) excavated from Sanxingdui No. 2 Sacrifice Pit reflects the complete world view and religious sacrifice scenes of the Sanxingdui people. It has 3 floors, the lower one represents the underground, with two monsters dragging the disk, representing the earth. On the disc stand 4 statues of shamans, with their heads above the sky and their feet on the earth, representing the human world. On the forehead of the wizard, a cloud-like thing grows out of the "soul out of the shell", and at the top is a "mask", which is their main god and ancestor god. In this way, they "communicate with the souls" of their ancestors during their sacrifices. There are 4 mountains above the shaman's head, the top of which indicates "heaven", and above the sky there is a square building, which may be the most important place of worship in the ancient kingdom of Sanxingdui, "Temple"; their gods, their ancestors, and their destination may all be in this temple. The front of the temple has a "human head bird figure" and a four-corner ornament "god bird", which may be a "totem" worshipped by the Sanxingdui people. There are also 20 people on all four sides of the temple, 5 on each side, facing outside the temple, holding sacrifices, kneeling to perform the sacrifice. The "bronze altar" shows that the Sanxingdui period not only had the concept of the three realms of "heaven, earth and man", but also showed that the "temple" as a place of sacrifice had a supreme position in the entire sacrifice activities. Because the "temple" is not only noble and prominent, the decoration is magical and gorgeous, and there are 20 kneeling statues with their hands held flat around it, and the devout sacrifice ceremony is being carried out here, thus proving that the "temple" may be the highest state in the entire sacrifice site of Sanxingdui.
The Mystery of the Theocratic State
After the discovery of the sacrificial pit, people became deeply interested in what kind of country Sanxingdui was, why did it create so many strange human figures and artifacts, and what its characteristics and reasons were, which was also a question that Sanxingdui researchers had to answer and solve. I have a gradual and deepening understanding of these issues, which I propose to analyze and discuss with the reader.
When I began to comprehensively study the social and historical situation of Sanxingdui in 1992, I proposed that Sanxingdui culture has three important characteristics, such as "ruling the country through ritual activities", "multicultural integration", and "plastic art expression"; later, I gradually realized that "an important feature of Sanxingdui culture - God" and "the theocratic state is the core of the whole problem", and further summarized that "sacred faith is the spiritual subject, magical art is its form of expression, and mysterious history is the consequence", jointly forming an "Sanxingdui theocratic ancient country" Cultural positioning.
I think that the Sanxingdui culture may be a special and lagging social form caused by a good natural social environment and relatively closed geographical conditions, forming a "Sanxingdui Theocratic Ancient Country" with its own characteristics and cultural traditions, which is the internal reason for the emergence of the magical Sanxingdui culture; and the extensive cultural exchanges produced by the "early Silk Road" are the external reasons for the rich and colorful appearance of the Sanxingdui culture. The center of the ritual activities of the ancient theocratic kingdom is the main reason for the cultural characteristics of Sanxingdui, and the excessive consumption of social wealth is the fundamental reason for the decline of Sanxingdui. Divine faith, magical art, and mysterious history have together created the splendid Sanxingdui culture.
I mentioned the theoretical basis for this understanding in the article "Sanxingdui Ancient Kingdom Research" in the first issue of Sichuan Cultural Relics in 2019, mainly the trilogy theory of "ancient country, Fang state and empire" proposed by Mr. Su Bingqi, and put forward the thesis of "Sanxingdui Ancient Culture Ancient City Ancient Country" at the "Sanxingdui Twelve Bridges Archaeological Excavation Symposium" in 1987; Mr. Li Boqian's theory that the countries in the ancient stage are divided into two categories: "advocating royal power" and "advocating theocracy", and put forward " I completely agree with the view that the Sanxingdui Kingdom is a 'theocratic state', and the Sanxingdui ruins basically do not see bronze weapons symbolizing military power, but there are relics of religious nature for sacrifice everywhere, which can be fully proved" (Li Boqian, "Sanxingdui Archaeological Research, Sequel, Preface", first draft). Li Boqian believes that the countries in the "ancient kingdom stage" are divided into two categories: "advocating theocracy" and "advocating royal power", "The ancient country of Hongshan takes the road of advocating theocracy through extravagant sacrifice activities, and everything is determined by the will of the gods" "In these cultural sites, there are large altars, indicating that the society at this time was full of religious fanaticism, and the person who presided over religious affairs was the master of society. Theocracy dominates everything, which is characteristic of the ancient kingdom stage." These ancient theocratic kingdoms "contributed a great deal of social wealth to the gods, and they fell deeper and deeper, unable to extricate themselves, so they collapsed."
The "Sanxingdui culture" may be a typical example of such a late "theocratic state" that flourished because of religious fanaticism and collapsed due to excessive consumption. Even after entering the Bronze Age, it may still stay in the "Sanxingdui Ancient Kingdom" stage of "the person who presides over religious affairs is the master of society" and "the theocracy determines everything", and then use new materials and new technologies to create a large number of exquisite and strange works of art used by the gods, thus creating a brilliant Sanxingdui civilization.
Although there are still different opinions in the academic circles on whether the "ancient Shu Kingdom" in the "Sanxingdui Culture" stage is an "ancient country", or a "Fang Kingdom" or a "kingdom", and many people believe that it is a country that "combines theocracy and royal power"; but at that time, it was extremely "advocating theocracy", the situation in society was "full of religious fanaticism", and it "contributed a lot of social wealth to the gods, fell deeper and deeper, could not extricate itself, and thus collapsed", but it was an indisputable fact proved by a large number of strange cultural relics and relics. This is the most important internal social reason for the emergence of such a magical "Sanxingdui civilization". This highly developed and distinctive "theocratic state" may be the main mystery of the "Mystery of Sanxingdui".
Explore a new chapter in the mystery
A new round of major archaeological discoveries and excavations in Sanxingdui has achieved a large number of important achievements and consensus, which has opened a new chapter for further analysis of the mystery of Sanxingdui, and many major mysteries will be gradually solved.
First of all, let's talk about the mystery of why the Sanxingdui Sacrifice Pit was excavated on a large scale again after 35 years: it was no longer excavated in that year for protection, and today's re-excavation is active excavation.
After sanxingdui began continuous excavations in 1980, we felt more and more important about it. After the first national archaeological excavation work conference in 1984, we began to do a comprehensive protection investigation and research work, found a number of city walls, and clarified the scope of the site. In order to provide a more adequate basis for the formulation of the conservation plan, in the spring of 1986, we cooperated with the Archaeology Department of the History Department of Sichuan University to carry out large-scale excavations in 3 districts around the edge of the brick factory on the east side of Sanxingdui, and achieved important results. The main leaders of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage rushed to Sanxingdui to inspect the archaeological site, affirm the work achievements, and held a special meeting with the leaders of provinces, cities and counties to determine the work plan of "governments at all levels to allocate a part of the funds, dismantle brick factories, and comprehensively protect the Sanxingdui ruins". When the funds were being implemented, the migrant workers found two sacrificial pits when they took the soil under the control of the archaeological team, and the Sanxingdui site was fully protected from then on. In the 1990s, the Sanxingdui Museum was built, the excavation report of the sacrificial pit was completed, and the management institution was improved. At the beginning of the 21st century, a comprehensive drilling survey and partial test excavation were carried out in a planned manner, and the layout of the ancient city of 1 large and 2 small and the large house of Qingguan Mountain of thousands of square meters were found, which basically clarified the overall appearance of the site area, but no large sacrificial pits were ever found again. In 2004, the Sanxingdui Management Committee restored one of the original two sacrificial pits, and the entire courtyard just covered the sacrificial area. In December 2019, outside the wall of the restoration site, a corner of pit No. 3 was explored, and after touching the bronze large mouth, the buildings and courtyards of the restoration site were completely demolished, and 6 new sacrificial pits were discovered. Their birth can be said to be just in time, just in time for the "golden age of Chinese archaeology", which contributed to this high-level "Sanxingdui excavation" that attracted worldwide attention.
"The archaeological discovery of Sanxingdui fully witnesses the pluralistic integration of Chinese civilization" is the biggest consensus reached by this excavation research. The many bronze ceremonial vessels and jade ceremonial vessels unearthed from Sanxingdui have many similar shapes and connotations to the ceremonial vessels of the Central Plains Xia and Shang periods; sanxingdui takes bronze as the main sacrificial vessel, and is very similar to the bronze cultural customs in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River; Sanxingdui's living utensils also have many important ancient cultural factors in the Yellow River Yangtze River Basin, indicating that it is an organic part of the pluralistic and integrated Chinese civilization, and is a shining venus in the Chinese civilization community during the "full of stars" period. It has an important historical position in the development process of Chinese civilization.
"Exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations in various places are an important reason for the rich and colorful cultural appearance of Sanxingdui", which is another important research consensus for everyone. Although the Sanxingdui culture is located in the heart of the Sichuan Basin, they are not closed and conservative. With a high degree of curiosity and exploration spirit about the world and the situation in the field, the ancients of Sanxingdui had extensive exchanges with the surrounding cultures, absorbed excellent cultural factors in many aspects, presented a colorful and colorful social outlook, became an important hub in the "early Silk Road", and created a brilliant Sanxingdui civilization in exchanges and mutual learning.
Sanxingdui culture is presented to the world with a unique and magical appearance, and has a special position in the history of the development of Chinese civilization and world civilization. Sanxingdui civilization is not only an important part of the pluralistic and integrated Chinese civilization, but also a wonderful flower in the history of the development of world civilization, and has the uniqueness and uniqueness that the world cultural heritage should have. Although it still has some unsolved mysteries, through the joint excavation and scientific and technological research of more than 40 scientific research units, hundreds of scientific researchers, and multidisciplinary high-tech, a large number of important scientific research achievements will be obtained, so that major progress will be made in solving the mystery of Sanxingdui, so as to find its characteristics and causes, clarify its value and significance, and draw appropriate understanding and conclusions, so as to make it a world cultural heritage at an early date and build it into a world-famous archaeological holy land.
This is what I got from watching the current excavation progress of the 8 sacrificial pits, and in connection with the "Sanxingdui Qingguanshan No. 1 Big House", I put forward some preliminary understandings for the analysis and reference of excavation researchers and friends from all walks of life. It is hoped that through discussion, revision and improvement, more academic consensus will be reached, laying a more solid foundation for the research, publicity, protection and utilization of Sanxingdui archaeology.