Unveiling the Mystery of Sanxingdui Culture (II)

Sanxingdui: Ancient regional civilizations revealed by archaeology

China Youth Daily

concern

A gold mask unearthed from the No. 3 "Sacrifice Pit" at the Sanxingdui site. Xinhua News Agency

A bronze statue excavated from the No. 3 "Sacrifice Pit" at the Sanxingdui site. Xinhua News Agency

A jade knife excavated from the No. 6 "Sacrifice Pit" at the Sanxingdui site. Xinhua News Agency

【Special Attention】

In 1986, two sacrificial artifact pits were excavated at the Guanghan Sanxingdui site in Sichuan, revealing a previously unknown ancient regional civilization, which became one of the most shocking archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. Since the end of 2019, 6 more craters have been found at the same site at the Sanxingdui site. This event has naturally attracted much attention, triggering heated discussions from all walks of life, people are asking about the new discoveries and their significance, and are full of curiosity about the regional civilization of Sanxingdui. As far as archaeological research is concerned, the new materials unearthed in the 6 pits will inevitably test the understanding formed in the past, and the research in related fields will enter a new stage due to new discoveries. Since it is necessary to face the test, it is necessary to sort out the previous understanding; the research entering a new stage naturally also needs a new starting point, and this starting point is a summary of the previous research. To this end, this paper intends to briefly expound on the archaeological discoveries and research overview of Sanxingdui, the connotation of sacrificial artifact pits, the source flow of Sanxingdui culture, and the significance of Sanxingdui archaeological discoveries.

Overview of archaeological findings and research in Sanxingdui

The Sanxingdui site was discovered in 1929, and in 1934, West China Union University conducted its first archaeological survey and excavation in Sanxingdui, which is also one of the earliest archaeological excavations in China. In the 1960s, academia recognized Sanxingdui as a center of ancient culture. Since the 1980s, archaeologists have learned that the core area of the Sanxingdui site is 6 square kilometers, and there is a 3.5 square kilometer city site on the site. There are city walls around and within the city site, reflecting the diachronic changes of the city site and the complex pattern that eventually formed. There are many terraces and utensil pits in the city, and there are house sites and cemeteries inside and outside the city site. In the northwest of the city site, Qingguan Mountain has a large-scale artificial rammed terrace with large buildings on the terrace. Over the years, a large number of bronzes, jade tools and so on have been excavated from the site.

Among the past archaeological discoveries in Sanxingdui, the most important one is the No. 1 and No. 2 sacrificial artifact pits found in the city site in 1986. More than 400 relics were excavated from Pit 1 and more than 1,000 relics from Pit 2, mainly bronze ware, as well as a large number of gold, jade, ivory and sea shells. Most of the relics have never been seen before, such as golden rods with fish and bird motifs, bronze figures, heads, masks of different shapes, strange copper trees, sun-shaped instruments, "altars", eye-shaped objects, numerous bronze dragons, tigers, snakes, birds, chickens and other animal figures, as well as small but numerous and rich types of copper gothic instruments, shaped instruments, square boreware, bells and pendants.

Sanxingdui's archaeological discoveries are so rich and unique that they make Sanxingdui an academic hotspot and even expand into a field of research with lasting appeal. The academic community has carried out multi-level and multi-dimensional research around these discoveries, from the age, characteristics and nature of the relics excavated from the two pits to the cultural outlook, cultural origin, social pattern, religious belief, cultural exchanges and many other aspects, forming a rich theoretical and interpretation system. Taking the age of the artifact pit as an example, there have always been two kinds of understanding in the academic circles, two kinds of understandings at the same time and one morning and one night, and the specific age initially had a variety of views from the early Yin Ruins to the Spring and Autumn Period, and then the views of the late Shang Dynasty became the consensus. The understanding of the nature of the artifact pit is even more divergent, and the main views are the sacrificial pit, the burial pit of the sacrificial artifacts of the Temple and the temple, the burial pit of "disgusting" nature, the burial pit of ominous treasure vessels, the pit of the artifacts of annihilation, the remains of the oath of alliance, the remains of sealing Zen, etc., as well as the "buried pit" and "artifact pit" that are uncertain about the purpose and object of the sacrifice. Among the most widely influential sacrifice pit theories, there have been many views such as comprehensive sacrifice, natural god sacrifice, hundred god sacrifice, ancestor sacrifice, agricultural sacrifice, enemy sacrifice, capital relocation sacrifice, founding sacrifice, subjugation sacrifice, kingship alternation, and fertility worship. Under the same view, the specific interpretation often varies from person to person. As for the function, use, meaning, etc. of the relics unearthed in the pit, there are many opinions.

Such a diverse understanding is rare in archaeological research. The reason for this is first of all that the types of relics unearthed at Sanxingdui are rich and unique, and largely beyond the scope of our existing knowledge. The second is that there are huge differences in research methods. For example, whether the premise of the beginning of the Bronze Age in the Chengdu Plain is set, whether the comparability of archaeological materials of different eras, different regions and different cultures is fully taken into account when comparing studies, and whether the generation is started from the physical object or with documents or legends as the starting point, different methods will lead to different chronological understanding. The determination of the properties of the pits and relics depends more on the method, and if there is no comprehensive investigation and only one or more types of relics are used to draw conclusions, or if there is a lack of solid evidence, there are infinite possibilities for interpretation. Taking different positions on the relationship between the Sanxingdui culture and the Central Plains culture, archaeological materials and documentary materials will also lead to different conclusions.

The connotation of the sacrificial artifact pit

The dating of relics unearthed at Sanxingdui is the basis for other studies. Among the excavated relics in Sanxingdui Pits 1 and 2, the age characteristics of the bronze containers are clear and can be compared with bronzes in other areas, so the bronze containers can be started from the bronze containers, and then the age of other common relics can be determined. For example, the bronze urns and plates in Pit No. 1 can be compared with similar artifacts of the Tomb of The Lady of Yin Ruins, and the Dragon and Tiger Zun are also found in Funan, Anhui Province; the Dakou Zun and the Dragon and Tiger Zun in Pit No. 2 are more found in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and they originate from the Bronze Ware of Yin Ruins. According to this, it can be considered that the age of the bronze container of Sanxingdui is equivalent to the Yin Ruins period. There are also statues on the top statues and "altars" of Sanxingdui, and such bronze objects are also at the same time as the Large Mouth Zun genus. From this method, it can be determined that the age of the Sanxingdui artifact group is the early Yin Ruins, and the Sanxingdui culture as a bronze culture, which began in the middle of the 13th century BC. In and around the Sanxingdui site, scattered bronze artifacts such as bronze plaques and ornaments of earlier age have been excavated, but they may have been imported from other places rather than produced locally, and they did not have an impact on the society and culture of the time. Therefore, the emergence of the Sanxingdui sacrificial artifact pit bronze ware group should be the beginning of the Bronze Age in the Chengdu Plain. The Sanxingdui site does not all belong to the Sanxingdui culture, but spans the Neolithic and Bronze Ages.

Regarding the nature of the artifact pits and excavated relics, the explanation does not seek consistency, but it must be reasonable and reliable. A reasonable theoretical framework should be able to draw a clear and consistent explanation of various relics and phenomena. Although the excavated relics of Sanxingdui No. 1 and 2 are complex, they can be summarized into three categories. The first category is symbolic artifacts, which are used to express the objects of worship and sacrifice, such as the golden staff and bronze dragon pillar in Pit No. 1, the tall copper tree in Pit No. 2, the sun-shaped vessel in the image, the complex eye-shaped vessel, the birds with a large number and shape, and the realistic rooster. The second category is the artifacts that represent the scene of sacrifice and the sacrifice activity, such as the "altar". It can be seen from the statue of the top figure, the portrait of The Zhang, and the kneeling figure under the copper tree that all kinds of portraits in the two pits basically belong to the same kind of artifacts, and their common points are either standing or kneeling, holding objects in their hands or holding objects in the shape of holding objects, and carrying out sacrifice activities. The third category is sacrificial utensils, including bronze vessels, various small pieces of bronze, jade, ivory, sea shells, etc.

Three types of artifacts express two themes: one is kingship, and the golden staff in pit 1 is a symbol of kingship. The second is a religious belief based on sun worship. The largest sacred tree in Pit 2 is 4 meters tall and is undoubtedly the core of the Artifact Group of Pit 2. Many scholars believe that the sacred tree expresses the Fuso and Wakaki recorded in documents such as the Classic of Mountains and Seas, showing the sun rising in the east and falling in the west. According to the concept of 9 flowers and 9 birds on the copper tree, and the bird carrying the sun to fly, numerous birds also symbolize the sun. Pit 2 also houses the Sun Shaper, the Eye Shaper symbolizing light and darkness, the Eye Bubbles, and the Rooster Crying at Sunrise. Thus expanding the scope of the investigation, the bird's body human face, the bird's foot portrait, the convex mask in pit 2, and the bronze ware with sun, bird feather, and eye patterns, may all be related, all of which express the common theme of sun worship. People usually discuss the excavations of pits 1 and 2 together, but in fact, the excavations of the two pits are obviously different in categories, and the sun patterns, bird feather patterns and eye patterns commonly found on the bronze ware of pit 2 are completely absent from pit 1. The difference is that the two groups of artifacts express the two themes of kingship and theocracy. However, it is not clear why these artifacts that may have existed in the temple and temple were destroyed and buried. It is precisely because it is uncertain whether the reason for the burial or whether there is a sacrifice during the burial process, but the buried objects are all sacrificial utensils, so the author advocates calling such a pit a sacrificial artifact pit.

Six more such pits have been found today, and each excavation is different. According to known information, the general categories and themes of the excavated artifacts in the 6 pits still seem to be the same as those of the No. 1 and No. 2 pits. Regardless of the final excavation results, it is certain that these new discoveries will test the various understandings and theories about the Sanxingdui sacrificial artifact pit and the Sanxingdui culture in the past, and the new materials may be incorporated into the original interpretation system, supplementing and enriching the original understanding, or overturning the past understanding to form a new explanation. New discoveries will certainly bring more new problems, which will further expand and deepen scientific research. This also shows that archaeology is an open science, and it is open to the future.

In terms of the materials known so far, we can still think that the society of the Sanxingdui period was the coexistence of royal power and theocracy, the ruling class held the resources, technology and products for the production of valuables, bronze, gold, jade, ivory, sea shells, etc. were collectively occupied by the upper echelons of society, used for religious activities, and finally achieved the purpose of strengthening social rule and enhancing social cohesion; compared with other cultures of the same period such as the Shang and Zhou cultures, bronzes and other valuables are not practical tools for life and do not reflect the identity status of individuals. Not used as a ceremonial vessel to maintain a ceremonial or hierarchical system. This shows that the concepts, religious beliefs, and social appearance of sanxingdui culture have their own uniqueness.

The source of Sanxingdui culture

The origin of Sanxingdui culture has attracted wide attention. This culture did not appear suddenly, nor did it mysteriously disappear, it has a clear cultural lineage, and there are connections and exchanges with other cultures of the same era.

In the Chengdu Plain, archaeologists have also discovered and excavated 8 Neolithic city sites, including Xinjin Baodun, and the development of local Neolithic culture and society formed the basis for the emergence of the Sanxingdui culture. The Sanxingdui culture was also influenced by other cultures outside the Chengdu Plain, involving bronze manufacturing techniques, concepts of power, and religious beliefs. The first is the influence from the northwestern part of the continent. No workshops for the production of bronze have been found in Sanxingdui, but a group of bronzes of this size should be produced locally, and its technical source may be traced in the northwest region. Excavations of the site of Xichengyi in Zhangye, Gansu, suggest that it may have been a metallurgical center, and that the Hexi Corridor had developed metallurgical industries around 4,000 years ago. The scattered bronze plaques of the earlier sanxingdui may have come from the Hexi Corridor. The forging technology present in Sanxingdui bronzes is also likely to be related to the Northwest Region. Sanxingdui's idea of a golden wand and a golden artifact symbolizing power and wealth should have come from the northwestern part of the continent. Gold artifacts have been unearthed in Gansu Yumen Fire Burning Ditch, Lintan Mogou Ruins, Qinghai Datong ShangsunJiazhai Cemetery, Xinjiang Tianshan North Road Cemetery, etc., which are 3,000 to 4,000 years old. According to research, the scepter heads found on the mainland are concentrated in the northwest region and circulate eastward from the Tianshui area of Gansu Province, and these scepters are 5,000 to 3,000 years old. The second is the impact from the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The kind of bronze and Dakouzun excavated from Sanxingdui have been found in Funan, Anhui, Zaoyang, Jiangling, Cenhe, Shashi, Hunan, Huarong, Yueyang, Pingjiang, And Dachang in Chongqing, and other places in Hubei. These zun and zhen belong to the Shang style bronze ware, but have a distinct southern style. It can be considered that the Sanxingdui culture received the influence of the Shang culture through the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, but the bronzes of this type of Shang culture became sacrificial vessels in the Sanxingdui culture. The belief in sun worship also has a long history in the East, and the bone and ivory vessels of the Hemudu culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River have the pattern of double birds and negative suns, and sun patterns and eye patterns can also be seen on Neolithic pottery in the Xiajiang area. It can be seen that sanxingdui culture has accepted multi-directional and multi-faceted influences.

The Sanxingdui culture also did not die out because the sacrificial artifacts were buried, and this culture continued in Jinsha when the political, cultural and religious center of the Chengdu Plain was transferred from Sanxingdui to Jinsha in Chengdu. Sacrificial remains, large buildings, ordinary dwelling sites, large cemeteries, etc. have been found at the Jinsha site. For the archaeological findings of Sanxingdui and Jinsha, it can be compared from the two aspects of knowledge system and value system, different cultures can have the same knowledge system due to mutual influence and exchange, but the values are not necessarily the same; but if the cultures of the two places have the same knowledge and value system, they may be the same culture. Such comparative analysis is not limited to pottery or a certain type of relic, and is not judged by the similarities and differences on the surface of archaeological materials, nor is it based on ancient historical legends to determine cultural attribution.

The relics of Sanxingdui and Jinsha, including bronze, gold, jade, stone, pottery, etc., are basically the same, indicating that the knowledge and technology of making them are the same. Bronze and gold ware are also made using a relatively rare hammering technique, engraving and coloring the hammered metalwork. The types of houses in both places are mainly wooden bone mud wall buildings with base grooves, as well as large rammed high-rise buildings, and dry-column buildings that are not found in the adjacent areas of the Chengdu Plain, which shows that the construction techniques are exactly the same. The city sites, buildings, artifact pits and almost all tombs in both places are in a northwest-southeast direction, or a northeast-southwest direction. This is different from the architectural direction of the Shang and Zhou cultures, and is related to the geographical environment of the Chengdu Plain, that is, the mountains parallel to the two sides of the plain are northeast-southwest, and the rivers in the plain are northwest-southeast. The two places also have the same livelihood and economic forms, both of which are dominated by rice.

The cultures of the two places share the same value system, and the most important evidence is that the valuables are from the relics of sacrifice, and their backgrounds, categories, and functions are the same. A large number of relics excavated from the Meiyuan sacrifice area of the Jinsha site are also of three categories: symbolic artifacts include gold crown ornaments with fish and bird motifs, gold ornaments of sun god birds, bronze birds, gold or copper eye-shaped objects, etc.; the artifacts that express the sacrificial activities include standing people wearing sun crowns, stone people and stone tigers combined together; and sacrificial utensils are also small pieces of bronze, jade and ivory, and their types and shapes are exactly the same as those of Sanxingdui's sacrificial supplies. Obviously, the three types of artifacts express the same two themes of kingship and sun worship. Another type of evidence comes from tombs. There are no large tombs in Sanxingdui and Jinsha, the tombs have no burial tools, most of them do not have burial items, and valuables, including bronzes, are not used for burial, which is in stark contrast to the rich sacrificial remains. The commonality of tombs suggests that although social stratification occurred at that time and an early state was formed, the theocracy was dominant, and the ruling class concentrated social wealth on religious activities rather than individual funerary activities. There is no thick burial custom, and no valuables are used to reflect the identity and status of individuals, which is completely different from the Shang and Zhou cultures of the same period, and the root cause of the difference lies in the fact that the two cultures have different concepts.

Sanxingdui and Jinsha two sites are in the Chengdu Plain, before and after the age, the two have exactly the same knowledge system and value system, should be the same culture, can be called Sanxingdui - Jinsha culture. Sanxingdui and Sands were at the center of two phases of this culture, respectively. The archaeological remains of this period unearthed in the Chengdu Plain do not contain practical weapons, no signs of foreign wars or acts of violence, the Sanxingdui city site has not been abandoned, and the number of ruins and large cemeteries in the Jinsha area has proliferated, indicating that the population growth and social peace and stability at that time, so the culture also continued to develop.

Around the western weekend and the beginning of the Spring and Autumn period, the Sanxingdui-Jinsha culture began to be replaced by a new culture, the Bashu culture. During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the culture and society of Sichuan underwent tremendous changes, highlighted by the disappearance of the sacrificial relics of the Sanxingdui-Jinsha culture, the disappearance of beliefs such as sun worship, the popularity of new bronze containers, tools, seals, etc., and the emergence of a large number of practical weapons and foreign bronze ware using new technologies. At this time, the function of bronze ware changed from sacrificial or religious objects to practical utensils and funerary supplies. Another significant change was the emergence of large-scale or abundant large-scale tombs in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, such as the Chengdu Commercial Street Joint Tomb and the New Capital Majia Tomb. The size of the tomb and the number of burial items are seriously differentiated, so as to distinguish the status and identity of the tomb owner. At the same time, large cemeteries belonging to different ethnic groups or political forces have also emerged. The way in which social wealth is appropriated and the forms in which power is ruled have changed markedly, and it is no longer theocracy that governs society but secular political and military forces. The cultural changes in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty reflect a more fundamental difference, that is, the difference in value systems, which is related to the decline of the Sanxingdui-Jinsha culture and the westward expansion of the Chu culture and the Central Plains culture.

In short, only by looking at the archaeological findings of Sanxingdui from a broader perspective and from a longer period of time can we better understand this culture.

Significance of sanxingdui archaeological discoveries

The archaeological discoveries of Sanxingdui are of great and far-reaching significance, which can be summarized as follows.

First of all, this history of Sanxingdui is completely absent from the literature, and archaeology has revealed a previously unknown regional civilization through archaeological discoveries. Second, the archaeological discoveries of Sanxingdui reconstructed the picture of ancient Chinese civilization. In the past, people adhered to the traditional view of history, that is, the Sichuan region belonged to the "edge" of the Central Plains or the Central Plains civilization, both geographically and culturally. The archaeological discoveries of Sanxingdui have made us realize that in addition to the Shang and Zhou civilizations in the Central Plains, there was also a regional civilization in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River that was unique and comparable to other civilizations of the same era. Therefore, the discovery of Sanxingdui, like many other major archaeological discoveries, has changed our understanding of the picture of ancient Chinese civilization and our view of history. Third, the archaeological discoveries of Sanxingdui and its connotations have greatly enriched the diversity of ancient Chinese civilizations. The connection between Sanxingdui culture and other cultures shows the significance of communication and exchange in the formation and development of ancient civilizations. Finally, from the Neolithic culture, the Sanxingdui-Jinsha culture, the Bashu culture of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, to the unification of Bashu by the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Chengdu Plain has continued for more than 2,000 years as a regional culture into the unified Qin and Han civilization. The history of a specific region revealed by archaeology has enabled us to more deeply understand and understand the formation and development process of the pluralistic and integrated Chinese civilization.

(Author: Shi Jinsong, Deputy Director and Researcher, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

Guangming Daily ( 2021-09-20 06 edition)

Rethinking sanxingdui culture

Original

Shi Jinsong

The Sanxingdui site is one of the earliest archaeological excavations in mainland China and the longest ongoing excavation. So far, city sites, large-scale building foundation sites, ordinary residence sites, tombs and various sacrificial remains have been found on the site. In particular, in 1986, two sacrificial pits were found on the site, and a very rich variety and quantity of bronze, gold, jade, ivory and so on were unearthed. These archaeological discoveries reveal the developed bronze culture that once existed in the Chengdu Plain, which is enough to change the traditional view of history.

▲Sanxingdui ruins

Since the discovery of the Sanxingdui site, the academic community has carried out continuous research on the archaeological discoveries of Sanxingdui and the Sanxingdui culture, and the breadth and depth of the research have enabled us to have a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the civilization of the Chengdu Plain and even the entire Chinese Bronze Age. In the history of sanxingdui cultural discovery and research, the archaeological discovery in 1986 can be described as a milestone. Taking the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the Sanxingdui Sacrifice Pit as an opportunity, I will think about some of the problems involved in the Sanxingdui culture.

A bronze and its production technology

As a bronze culture, the distinctive feature of Sanxingdui culture is that there are a large number of bronzes with rich varieties and unique styles. The appearance of these bronzes marks the entry of the Chengdu Plain into the Bronze Age. It is also the unique appearance and connotation of these bronzes that distinguish the Sanxingdui culture from other bronze cultures of the same period. The bronzes of the Sanxingdui culture are mainly from two sacrificial pits discovered in 1986. [1] Although no workshops have been found to produce these bronzes, the sheer number and distinct geographical characteristics of this group of bronzes presumed that they were produced locally rather than imported from abroad. In this way, the origin of the bronze manufacturing technology of the Sanxingdui culture is a key issue.

▲Sanxingdui No. 1 sacrifice pit

In the Chengdu Plain, the Baodun culture, which predates the Sanxingdui culture, has seen the emergence of a large number of city sites, but no bronze or remains related to bronze production have been found, unlike small bronzes or red bronzes that appeared in the northern region before the large-scale production of bronzes. The bronzes of the Sanxingdui culture seen so far clearly show a high concentration, that is, except for the bronzes in the two pits, there are no more discoveries at the Sanxingdui site or other contemporaneous sites in the Chengdu Plain. Not only that, the production and products of bronze ware also have the characteristics of being strictly controlled by the upper echelons of society, that is, bronze products are concentrated in religious or sacrificial activities, and are not used for other aspects of social production, life and so on. All of this shows that the bronzes of the Sanxingdui culture were made centrally in a relatively short period of time, and it is likely that the bronze production technology of the Chengdu Plain also appeared suddenly, rather than gradually developing locally.

The bronzes of the earlier era currently found in the Chengdu Plain should be 4 rectangular bronze plaques excavated from the Sanxingdui site. One piece was excavated in Gaobiao Township in 1976 with turquoise,[2] and in 1987 three pieces were unearthed in The Shingoo CangBao, one of which was also embedded with turquoise. [3] Bronze plaques inlaid with turquoise are found at the Erlitou site and in Tianshui, Gansu, and there are several pieces in foreign possessions. In Hami, Xinjiang, bronze plaques with unimpressed turquoise were found. There is much discussion in the academic circles about such bronze medal ornaments, which roughly correspond to the Erlitou cultural period. One opinion suggests that its origins may be related to the culture of the Eastern region, such as the Yongsan culture. [4] However, new research suggests that the bronze plaques of the Chengdu Plain are more closely related to the plaques of Hami in Xinjiang from the perspective of form, cut-outs, and perforations, while the origin of the inlaid turquoise plaques can be assumed to be in the Hexi Corridor, and the Minjiang River Basin and the Bailongjiang River Basin are the two passages connecting the Sichuan and Hexi Corridors. [5] These types of plaques are similar in style, but are small in number but widely distributed. The Sanxingdui site has no other contemporaneous bronzes except for these 4 pieces of plaques, and this type of plaque is also unrelated to the later Sanxingdui bronzes, so they may be early bronze products introduced from the northwest to the Chengdu Plain.

▲Sanxingdui golden bronze statue

In addition to the plaque ornaments, bronzes from the earlier era have also been unearthed in the Chuanxi Plateau. In 2008, the Direct Aid Wuhu Bronze Ge was excavated in the sarcophagus tomb of Huoyan Erlong in Sichuan, which was excavated in Zhengzhou Shangcheng and the Zhukaigou site in Inner Mongolia, and it is likely that the Ge of Yan'erlong was spread from the north through the half-moon zone. ［6］

▲Sanxingdui unearthed bronze go

If early bronze products may have been introduced to Sichuan from the north, then copper production technology may also be introduced from the north along the same route. In fact, as early as the discovery of the Sanxingdui bronze group, the academic community compared the bronze culture of Sanxingdui with the bronze culture of West Asia. Some studies believe that in addition to large bronze figures, bronze sacred trees, but also include gold masks, etc., in terms of category and artistic style are similar to similar discoveries in West Asia, so the Sanxingdui culture should be based on the local culture, absorbing the Central Plains Shang culture and the ancient civilization factors of West Asia and forming a composite culture; the route of cultural dissemination may be from the northwest to the southwest, considering that Sanxingdui also found a large number of ivory and sea shells, and does not rule out the possibility of being berthed through India. [7] In some studies compared with Near Eastern civilizations, the connection of the Sanxingdui culture to Yunnan and the Indian subcontinent has been further discussed. ［8］

The bronze-making technology of the Sanxingdui culture came from the assumption of the north, which first corresponded to the background of the cultural exchange between the East and the West in the second and third millennium BC. West Asia is the region where metallurgy originated in the world, and there has always been a cultural exchange between West Asia and ancient China. There are a growing number of archaeological discoveries in the northwestern part of the continent that reveal this exchange between east and west. One of the latest discoveries is the Site of Xichengyi in Zhangye, Gansu, which may have been a metallurgical center of the Hexi Corridor, suggesting that there was already a relatively developed metallurgical industry in the Hexi Corridor region around 4100 years ago. [9] In this way, it is entirely possible that the production of bronzes from the Sanxingdui culture was influenced by the Northwest Territories. There are still forging techniques in sanxingdui bronzes, which are different from the mainstream technologies of the Central Plains Shang culture, but may be related to the northwest region. The half-moon-shaped zone from the north to the southwest of the continent is also on this route of cultural exchanges between the East and the West.

Secondly, this inference is also consistent with the background of the development and evolution of prehistoric culture in the Chengdu Plain. In recent years, Neolithic sites found in the upper reaches of the MinJiang River, such as the Yingpanshan site in Mao County[10] and the Jiang Weicheng site in Wenchuan,[11] and the Shifang Guiyuanqiao site in the northern part of the Chengdu Plain,[12] have cultural factors related to the prehistoric culture of the Ganqing area. Based on these archaeological findings, the academic community has put forward some new understandings. For example, it is believed that the Baodun culture is likely related to the Majiayao culture in the upper reaches of the Min River;[13] the earliest culture seen in the Chengdu Plain is the late Yangshao culture from the northwest, which was also influenced by the Daxi culture from the Xia River region;[14] the people from the upper reaches of the Min River first entered the Chengdu Plain mainly in the north, then moved to the heart of the plain, and eventually made the society evolve in the direction of complexity. [15] If the movement of people and culture in the prehistoric period were carried out upstream from the Min River to the Chengdu Plain, then subsequent bronze products and manufacturing techniques could also enter the Chengdu Plain from the northwest along the same route.

Compared with the northern route of propagation, the southern route of bronze manufacturing technology is not very clear. Although a large number of ivory and sea shells have been excavated at the Sanxingdui site, the bronze culture in Yunnan does have some similarities with the Sanxingdui culture, and Yunnan also has rich mineral resources, but no bronze artifacts of the same period as the Sanxingdui culture have been found in Yunnan. Moreover, the southern line does not have the two major communication backgrounds that make the northern line more reasonable.

In addition to the above clues, the possibility that Sanxingdui's bronze manufacturing technology was influenced by the East cannot be ignored. At the Shijiahe site in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, small pieces of bronze or relics related to the production of bronzes have been found at several sites. Five pieces of bronze fragments and slag have been unearthed in Luojiabailing,[16] copper ore has been excavated on the roof ridge of Xiaojia,[17] and one knife-shaped copper fragment and malachite fragment have been found in Dengjiawan. [18] At least in the Shijiahe culture, east of the Sanxingdui culture, there are already signs of the use or production of bronzes. The direct connection between sanxingdui culture bronzes and the East is bronze zun and 罍. The Dragon and Tiger Zun of Sanxingdui is the same as the Dragon and Tiger Zun of Funan, Anhui Province, and the other animal face patterns and bronzes have the same style as similar bronzes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Therefore, the academic community has long proposed that the Shang culture spread from the Central Plains to the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and then traced back to the Chengdu Plain. [19] Since sanxingdui has such a clear connection with bronzes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the possibility that its manufacturing technology was influenced by the East cannot be ruled out. However, the bronze artifacts similar to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in Sanxingdui are mainly equivalent to the Yin Ruins period, which is later.

Finally, it should be noted that if bronzes from earlier times are found at the Sanxingdui site in the future, or bronzes before the Sanxingdui culture are found in the Chengdu Plain, it is also necessary to understand the bronze production technology in the context of the origin of metallurgy.

2. Beliefs and beliefs

The reason why Sanxingdui culture is considered to be a unique bronze culture, in addition to the unique appearance of various material relics, lies in the unique concepts they contain.

The relics excavated from the two pits of Sanxingdui should be used for religious and sacrificial activities. Academia has conducted a lot of research on this for 30 years. The author believes that the bronze human figures excavated from The No. 1 Pit sanxingdui are mainly used to express ancestor worship, while the artifact groups excavated from No. 2 Pit, mainly sun-shaped instruments, sacred trees, eye-shaped instruments, and birds, show sun worship. [20] These two groups of relics indicate that the society of the Sanxingdui culture period was a combination of royal and theocracy, a belief system that is still evident in archaeological discoveries at the Jinsha site. This is exactly what makes sanxingdui culture obviously different from Shangzhou culture. Therefore, the beliefs and concepts of Sanxingdui culture are important contents for understanding Sanxingdui culture and society.

Although it is difficult to know the concepts of people in the prehistoric period of the Chengdu Plain from the current archaeological materials, there is no sign of such beliefs as the Sanxingdui culture in the Baodun culture. This set of beliefs and concepts of sanxingdui culture is more like the formation that accompanied the mass production and use of bronze. Since bronzework was concentrated in religious activities, where technology and ideas were unified, it is more likely that the two have the same origin.

The comparative study of the aforementioned Sanxingdui culture and the ancient civilizations of West Asia is not limited to bronze manufacturing techniques. Bronze statues, sacred trees, and gold artifacts in these cultures, including scepters that have been concerned by scholars, have similar functions. They either symbolize political power or are used in some kind of religious activity, and ultimately serve the rule of society. Some studies believe that the cultural connotation of the large bronze statue group in the West Sichuan Plain is consistent with the bronze statues of the ancient civilization in the world, and it is possible that it will spread from the Near East through South Asia; the sacred trees also have a continuous distribution phenomenon from the Near East to South Asia and western Sichuan; and some styles of the bronze culture in western Sichuan originate from the Civilization of the Near East. [21] At the site of Zhangye Xichengyi, in addition to bronzes and metallurgical relics, the head of the scepter was also found. These common symbols of power suggest that the connection between the western Sichuan region and the northwestern and near eastern parts of the continent seems to be more pronounced.

▲Sanxingdui unearthed a sacred tree

▲ Sanxingdui unearthed a golden staff

The belief of the Sanxingdui culture is mainly sun worship, symbolizing the sun with sun shapes, eye shapes and birds, and copper trees as the place where the sun rises and falls. Sun worship is widespread in many regions, including ancient Western civilizations, and in some cultures the sun god also occupies a prominent position. In addition to the above research, the exhibition of the Guanghan Sanxingdui Museum also collects a lot of information on ancient West Asian, Egyptian and Indian sacred trees, some of which are related to the sun or the universe.

But beliefs and concepts similar to those of the Sanxingdui culture are also found in the ancient cultures of the eastern regions of the mainland. Sun worship, in particular, is also widespread in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers. Some scholars have made archaeological observations on the sun worship in the prehistoric period in the eastern region, and the relevant regions and cultures include the Hemudu culture and Liangzhu culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Daxi culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the Dawenkou culture in the lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangshao culture in the middle reaches, involving materials such as pottery, jade, bone carvings and ivory carvings; this also includes materials in the area north of the Chengdu Plain, such as birds and suns on yangshao culture faience pottery in Quanhu Village, Shaanxi. [22] In addition to the sun motif, these materials are mainly used to express the theme of sun worship with the help of birds and some geometric figures. In line with this, the Sanxingdui culture also uses birds to represent the sun. However, the eye-shaped vessels and sacred trees of the Sanxingdui culture, the groups of artifacts and even temples that express sun worship on such a scale, are not found in the above-mentioned prehistoric cultures.

▲Yangshao culture bird dragon pattern faience pot

In addition to the rich information showing the worship of the sun, there are a large number of jade carved human heads in the Shijiahe culture, which is currently found in China to be closer to the sanxingdui bronze human head style, although whether the two batches of different eras and different textures have the same meaning is unknown.

Clear evidence that the idea of Sanxingdui culture was influenced by the East comes from bronze vessels. In the Sanxingdui culture, zun and 罍 existed in large numbers as sacrificial artifacts. In the Sanxingdui artifact group, there are also statues of people kneeling on the top of the statue, and the "altar" of the "square statue" on the top of the four people's heads. The tradition of reverence and humility continued in the bronze culture of the Chengdu Plain until the Two Weeks period. As mentioned above, Sanxingdui's Large Mouth Zun and Straight Belly Gong are the same as similar bronzes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the Heavy Zun and Wei are also an important feature of the bronze culture in the middle and lower Yangtze River. These two types of instruments ultimately originated from the Shang culture. More importantly, in the Shang culture, the bronze container was a tool of political and religious power. The Sanxingdui culture absorbed bronze vessels such as Zun and Wei and used them for religious and sacrificial activities, a concept that originated in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and ultimately from the Shang culture.

It can be seen that the beliefs and concepts of sanxingdui culture may also have multiple sources. Sanxingdui culture is based on the prehistoric culture of the Chengdu Plain, bringing together new technologies and new concepts of different cultures, and finally forming a highly developed regional civilization.

Three divisions of Sanxingdui culture

The Sanxingdui culture was established by archaeological discoveries at the Sanxingdui site. For a long time, the staging and chronology of the Sanxingdui culture, as well as the construction of archaeological cultural sequences in the Chengdu Plain, have always been the focus of research. Academics have divided the remains of the Sanxingdui site into four phases, which extend from the late Neolithic period to the late Shang dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty. [23] Subsequently, the remains of the Sanxingdui site were divided into three phases, the second of which was the Sanxingdui culture, which corresponded to the Erlitou culture period to the first period of the Yinxu culture; the third period of the remains was named the Twelve Bridges Culture, and the era was equivalent to the first to third periods of the Yinxu culture. [24] With the increase of archaeological discoveries and the deepening of understanding, the pre-Qin culture of the Chengdu Plain was divided into Baodun culture - Sanxingdui culture - Twelve Bridges culture - Shangwangjiaquan remains, of which the Sanxingdui culture was divided into three periods, dating from about 3700 years ago to the second period of Yinxu culture. [25] After the discovery of the Guiyuanqiao site, the cultural sequence of the Chengdu Plain was proposed as "Guiyuanqiao Culture (5100-4600 years ago) - Sanxingdui Phase I (Baodun) Culture (4600-4000 years ago) - Sanxingdui Culture (4000-3100 years ago) - Sanxingdui Phase IV Culture (Twelve Bridges) Culture (3100-2600 years ago)". ［26］

The sequence of cultural development based on new archaeological discoveries continues to be complete, accurately reflecting the relative age of each site. This sequence also has its characteristics in the method and process of construction, one is mainly based on the combing of pottery excavated at various time periods and sites, and the other is to connect different sites as relatively independent stages. The latter feature seems to reflect the natural process of archaeological discoveries and related understandings: the Sanxingdui culture was established by the earlier discovery of the Sanxingdui site, followed by the discovery of the Twelve Bridges Site Group and the Baodun City Site Group, and the two new cultures thus established coincided with the Sanxingdui culture.

But if we integrate the data from the various sites, we will find that there are still some problems worth thinking about in this large chronological framework.

The first problem is that the earliest bronze ornaments excavated from the Sanxingdui site are likely to have been imported from other regions rather than local products, and their appearance did not have an impact on the society at that time. In this way, the production and use of bronze groups excavated from the two pits of Sanxingdui marked the entry of the Chengdu Plain into the Bronze Age. But the age of this batch of bronzes is only equivalent to the Yin Ruins period. Does this mean that the Sanxingdui culture currently divided was pre-Bronze Age for some time? In other words, the Sanxingdui culture spanned the Stone Age and bronze age. In this way, for the Sanxingdui culture, it is not only necessary to systematically grasp the development and evolution of pottery, but also need to consider the profound changes and long-term impacts on culture and society caused by the emergence of bronze ware containing new technologies and new concepts.

The second problem is that the Jinsha site was incorporated into the Twelve Bridges culture after its discovery. A large number of bronzes, gold, jade, stone tools, ivory, etc. have been excavated from the Jinsha site, which are not only in the same style as similar relics of Sanxingdui, but also indicate that the culture has the same knowledge system and value system as the Sanxingdui culture. From this point of view, the two may be the same Sanxingdui culture. If the two pits and bronze groups of Sanxingdui are classified as the Twelve Bridges culture, then the Sanxingdui culture can hardly be regarded as a developed bronze culture. Therefore, the relationship between the Twelve Bridges culture, especially the early Twelve Bridges culture, and the Sanxingdui culture is worth thinking about. ［27］

I think the above question is important because it is not simply the division or definition of archaeological culture, but how to understand the cultural pattern and social changes of the Chengdu Plain at that time.

4. Society of the Sanxingdui Cultural Period

Compared with the construction of the Sanxingdui cultural genealogy and chronological framework, as well as the study of the sacrificial pit discovered in Sanxingdui in 1986, the academic community has not paid enough attention to the society of the Sanxingdui cultural period. Most of us agree that during the Sanxingdui culture, a complex society had emerged in the Chengdu Plain, and even an early state was formed. But how did such a state come into being, what were its characteristics, and what were the similarities and differences with the early states in the Central Plains? For these issues, there are also some studies that have given systematic and in-depth elaboration as much as possible through relatively limited data, such as the evolution from chiefdoms to countries during the Sanxingdui civilization period, and the operation mechanism of the Sanxingdui theocratic state. [28] However, there are not many such studies. Discussing the society of the Sanxingdui cultural period, there are also two issues that need attention.

First, we should get rid of the influence of the records of the lineage of the Shu kings in the literature, which are mostly legends and have limited information reflecting the society at that time. They have the potential to lead research to unreliable genealogical studies, preventing us from using archaeological methods to derive valuable insights about the society of the time from archaeological material. Second, conceptualization should be avoided. Applying too many concepts also affects our specific and in-depth analysis of the material and creates an epistemic gap. For the society of the Sanxingdui culture period, we should base ourselves on archaeological data and use archaeological methods to obtain independent understanding.

The Baodun culture of the Chengdu Plain has appeared in groups of city sites, and the culture has a profound accumulation. By the time of the Sanxingdui culture, the site of Sanxingdui City became more complex, and it is now known that there is a big city, and there are small cities in the north of the big city. In addition to the remains of the sacrifice, a large building foundation site was also found on Qingguan Mountain. But what is more important for the Sanxingdui culture is that many new factors have emerged, especially the production and use of bronzes. The new factors represented by bronze ware include new technologies and concepts, which are the most core content of Sanxingdui culture. It is conceivable that the use of bronzes is accompanied by the migration and movement of people, the influence and stimulation of different cultures, remote communication and control, and so on. Perhaps it was the stirring of foreign cultures and local cultures that changed the cultural and social landscape of the Chengdu Plain and became an opportunity for the formation of an early state.

exegesis:

[1] Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology: Sanxingdui Sacrifice Pit, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1999.

[2] Ao Tianzhao and Wang Youpeng, "Jade Artifacts of the Shang Dynasty Unearthed in the Guanghan Dynasty of Sichuan", Cultural Relics, No. 9, 1980.

[3] Sanxingdui Workstation of Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Guanghan Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics Administration: "Investigation Briefing on the Zhenwucang Baobao Sacrifice Pit at Sanxingdui Site", sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, ed., Sichuan Archaeological Report Collection, pp. 78-90, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1998.

[4] Wang Qing, "A Preliminary Study on the Inlaid Bronze Plaque Ornaments", Cultural Relics, No. 5, 2004.

[5] Chen Xiaosan, "On the Origin of Mosaic Turquoise Plaques", Archaeology and Cultural Relics, No. 5, 2013.

[6] Shi Jinsong, "Iron Tools in the Sarcophagus Tomb in Western Sichuan", Sichuan University Museum, et al., eds., Southern Ethnic Archaeology, Vol. 10, pp. 21-229, Science Press, 2014.

[7] Huo Wei, "Guanghan Sanxingdui Bronze Culture and Ancient West Asian Civilization", Sichuan Cultural Relics, 1989, "Guanghan Sanxingdui Ruins Research Album".

[8] Duan Yu, "Chiefdoms and The Origin of States: A Comparative Study on the Origins of Civilization in the Yangtze River Basin", pp. 300-338, 411-414, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2007.

[9] a. Gansu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, et al.: Xichengyi Ruins in Zhangye City, Gansu Province, Archaeology, No. 7, 2014;

b. Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, et al.: Briefing on the Excavation of Xichengyi Site in Zhangye City, Gansu Province, 2010, Archaeology, No. 10, 2015.

[10] Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, et al.: Report on the Trial Excavation of Yingpanshan Site in Maoxian County, Sichuan, Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, ed., Chengdu Archaeological Discoveries (2000), pp. 1-77, Science Press, 2002.

[11] Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, et al., Briefing on the Excavation of Jiang Weicheng Neolithic Sites in Wenchuan County, Sichuan, Archaeology, No. 11, 2006.

[12] Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, et al., Briefing on the Excavation of neolithic sites in Guiyuanqiao, Shifang, Sichuan, Cultural Relics, No. 9, 2013.

[13] Jiang Zhanghua, "Some Thoughts on the Newly Discovered Neolithic Relics of the Upper Reaches of the Minjiang River", Sichuan Cultural Relics, No. 3, 2004.

[14] Wan Jiao and Lei Yu, "Guiyuanqiao Ruins and the Development Of Neolithic Culture in Chengdu Plain", Cultural Relics, No. 9, 2013.

[15] Jiang Zhanghua and He Kunyu, "Analysis of Prehistoric Settlements in The Chengdu Plain", Sichuan Cultural Relics, No. 6, 2016.

[16] Hubei Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, "Neolithic Site of Luojiabailing, Shijiahe, Hubei", Journal of Archaeology, No. 2, 1994.

[17] Jingzhou Museum, Hubei Province, et al., The Roof ridge of the Xiao family, p. 236, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1999.

[18] Hubei Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, et al., Deng Jiawan, p. 243, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2003.

[19] Li Xueqin, "How Shang Culture Was Introduced to Sichuan," China Cultural Relics Daily, July 21, 1989, 4th edition.

[20] Shi Jinsong, "A Re-examination of the Sanxingdui Artifact Pit," Journal of Archaeology, No. 2, 2004.

[21] Duan Yu, "On the Relationship between bronze culture in the Western Sichuan Plain in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in the Shang Dynasty and the ancient civilizations of North China and the world", Southeast Culture, No. 2, 1993.

[22] Mou Yongkang, "Archaeological Observations on Sun Worship in the Prehistoric Period of the East," Forbidden City Academic Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 4, 1995.

[23] Chen Xiandan, "Overview of Excavations at the Sanxingdui Site in Guanghan, Preliminary Phased ——— and On the Characteristics and Development of the "Early Shu Culture"", Sichuan University Museum et al., eds., Southern Ethnic Archaeology, Vol. 2, pp. 213-231, Sichuan Science and Technology Publishing House, 1990.

[24] Sun Hua, "On the Staging of the Guanghan Sanxingdui Site", Sichuan University Museum, et al., eds., Southern Ethnic Archaeology, Vol. 5, pp. 10-24, Sichuan Science and Technology Publishing House, 1993.

[25] Jiang Zhanghua et al., "A Preliminary Discussion on the Pre-Qin Culture of the Chengdu Plain", Journal of Archaeology, No. 1, 2002.

[26] Wan Jiao, Lei Yu, "Guiyuanqiao Ruins and the Development Of Neolithic Culture in Chengdu Plain", Cultural Relics, No. 9, 2013.

[27] Shi Jinsong, "The Twelve Bridges Ruins and the Twelve Bridges Culture", Archaeology, No. 2, 2015.

[28] Duan Yu, Chiefdoms and The Origin of States: A Comparative Study on the Origin of Civilization in the Yangtze River Basin.

This paper is the phased result of the third sub-project of "Bronze Production and Early Civilization in Southwest China" of the Major Project of the National Social Science Foundation of China "Investigation and Research of Metallurgical Sites of the Pre-Qin and Han Dynasties in Southwest China" (approval number: 15ZDB056). The author is affiliated with the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

( Source: Sichuan Cultural Relics, No. 4, 2017 )

New archaeological discoveries in Sanxingdui and new understanding of ancient Shu civilization

Zhao Dianzeng

2017 No. 1 (No. 191) Sichuan Cultural Relics NO. 1. 2017 TOTAL 191

Zhao Dianzeng (Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)

In recent years, Sanxingdui has carried out archaeological planning, comprehensive exploration, key excavations, and systematic sorting out, and has achieved a large number of gratifying and important results. When discussing the archaeological achievements of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan," the comrades of the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology once again talked about the question of whether Sanxingdui is a culture or several cultures, including whether it should be divided into multiple cultures, the relationship between several cultures with different names, and the nature of cultures at various stages. This is a manifestation of the deepening of sanxingdui archaeological research again, and it is worth further discussion. My opinion is that the Sanxingdui site has gone through more than two thousand years, and there have been obvious changes in the artifacts of each period, which should not only be divided into several archaeological cultures, but also can be further refined. Here, combined with the new archaeological discoveries and new achievements of Sanxingdui in recent years, we will talk about some personal preliminary views for the reference of excavation researchers and for the discussion and reference of enthusiasts.

A Bashu archaeological culture staging

The Relationship Between the "Sanxingdui Phase I Culture" and the "Baodun Culture" Over the past few decades, archaeological excavations and research work in Sanxingdui and other places have laid a good foundation for studying the situation of the early Bashu civilization, establishing a Sichuan archaeological and cultural sequence, and reconstructing the ancient Shu xin history. From the systematic excavation and staging of the Sanxingdui site from 1980 to 1986 to the excavation and staging of prehistoric city sites such as Baodun from 1995 to 2000, based on the excavations and research results of the 1980s and 1990s, our initial understanding of the chronological composition of the archaeological culture sequence of Bashu is:

1. Baodun culture (Sanxingdui Phase I culture), about 4800~4000 years ago;

2. Sanxingdui culture (Sanxingdui site phase II and III culture), about 4000~3200 years ago;

3. Twelve Bridges Culture (Sanxingdui Phase IV, Twelve Bridges, Jinsha, Xinyi Village Ruins), about 3200 to 2600 years ago;

4. Late Bashu culture (ship burial culture), about 600 BC to 316 BC;

5. The stage of integration with Qin and Han culture (remnants of bashu culture in the early Qin and Han dynasties), about 316 BC to 100 BC.

[1] Such views are basically accepted by society, but there are still different views on the division of specific ages, the determination of cultural names, and even whether it is necessary to divide into multiple cultures, especially in the chronology and relationship between the Sanxingdui Phase I culture and the Baodun culture, and there are considerable differences between the provincial and municipal archaeological departments. According to many measurement data, the comrades of the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics examination and ancient research set the first phase of Sanxingdui as about 4800 to 4000 years ago, and believed that the two names could be used universally;

[2] Comrades of the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology set the Age of Baodun Culture to about 4500 to 3700 years ago, and believed that the Sanxingdui Phase I culture should be included in the 68th of Baodun Culture.

[3] Each has a certain basis and reason; some comrades believe that the four periods of the Sanxingdui site are the same archaeological culture, and should not be named as three cultures.

[4] There are also some different opinions on the cultural naming of the Spring and Autumn Warring States and the Qin and Han Dynasties. In 2006, in the national key project "Ancient Culture in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River and the Origin of Chinese Civilization", which was attended by scholars from major academic units in the province, the question of "archaeological and cultural sequences in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River" was basically unified, that is, it was divided into four major archaeological and cultural stages: "Baodun Culture", "Sanxingdui Culture", "Twelve Bridges Culture", and "Bashu Culture". [5] However, issues such as the division of specific years remain unresolved, and the results of the project have not been officially published. In recent years, in the course of excavation, investigation, and collation of the Sanxingdui site, a number of new achievements have been made; in addition to the more complete connotation of the "Sanxingdui culture" with the second and third phases as the main body, the main new harvests are: 1. The cultural connotation of the first phase has been greatly enriched, and the strata of the first phase have been excavated in various parts of the Sanxingdui ruins group, with a very large time span, a dense phenomenon of relics, and a large number of excavated cultural relics, which is about more than the sum of the prehistoric city sites in Chengdu, and can be divided into two major sections.

[6] 2. The culture of the first period is closely connected with the second phase of the culture (i.e., the "Sanxingdui culture") from the stratigraphic and instrumental shape, and there are no gaps and missing rings in the middle.

[7] 3. The cultural relics and relics of the fourth phase of culture are very rich, and the location, era and connotation have been further extended, in addition to the cultural layer of the Shang Zhou Period, which is equivalent to the site of the Twelve Bridges, the cultural layer remains equivalent to the site of Xinyi Village have been excavated, and the time has continued to the Spring and Autumn Period.

[8] 4. Several ship coffins and earth pit tombs were found in the Sanxingdui ruins group, which have passed through the middle of the Warring States period. [9] These achievements further illustrate that Sanxingdui has a relatively complete cultural sequence with continuous development, spanning nearly 2,700 to 800 years from 4800 to 2300 years ago, which further highlights its position in the study of cultural sequences in Sichuan archaeology, of which the collation and research results of the "Sanxingdui Phase I Culture" are particularly important. The remains of the "Sanxingdui Phase I culture", dating from about 4800 to 4000 years ago, spanning nearly a thousand years, are widely distributed in the six-square-kilometer Sanxingdui ruins group, with thick accumulation layers, rich and diverse contents, and rich excavated cultural relics, not only a large number of artifacts identical to the "Baodun Culture", but also some other cultural factors, such as cones and bubbles similar to the Liangzhu culture, black pottery, etc., and there are also some factors similar to the earlier "Guiyuanqiao culture" of the earlier era. In addition to ash pits, housing sites, etc., there are also relics such as rectangular earth pit tombs and sacrificial pits where animal bones and ivory are buried. Under the walls of the ancient city of Sanxingdui, dense house sites are often excavated, and the above situation shows that the "Sanxingdui Ruins" of this period were a large prehistoric site that had both certain relations and obvious differences from the "Baodun culture" of Chengdu's various city sites.

Compared with baodun and other ancient city sites, compared with the Sanxingdui site in the "Sanxingdui Phase I culture" period has some of its own significant characteristics.

1. Large area (about 3.6 million square meters, Baodun and other city sites are 110,000 to 600,000 square meters);

2. Long time (about 5000~4000 years ago, Baodun cultured 4500~3700 years ago);

3. Many cultural relics (the number of excavated cultural relics exceeds the sum of other prehistoric city sites in Chengdu);

4. There are many relics and rich connotations (multiple cultural factors);

5. No walls were built;

6. The ground is located on the banks of the "Two Rivers" (The Duck River and the Mamu River).

Although the data on the two site groups have not yet been published in their entirety, it is obvious that there are considerable differences between them, and they cannot be unified in terms of time and connotation, and the differences are becoming more and more obvious. Judging from the published information, we believe that the "Sanxingdui Phase I culture" and the "Baodun culture" may be two cultural types that are both related and differentiated, have their own central areas, and overlap in time. The "Sanxingdui Phase I culture" is mainly distributed in the northern part of the Chengdu Plain, and the "Baodun culture" is mainly distributed in the southwest of the Chengdu Plain. Judging from the dating point of view, the "Sanxingdui Phase I culture" is one stage earlier than the "Baodun culture".

Judging from the cultural connotations, although the two are generally similar, there are also many differences, such as the "Sanxingdui Phase I culture" with sand pottery and can-shaped utensils, which are relatively similar to the Yingpanshan culture in northern Sichuan and the Guiyuanqiao culture in western Sichuan, and the "Baodun culture" has more gray and white pottery and wavy rowing patterns, and is closer to the Shijiahe culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

What are the reasons for these characteristics? Here we try to do some analysis and interpretation from its geographical and historical point of view. The Sanxingdui site may not be a simple, closed primitive tribe and ancient city in the "phase one culture" stage. Linked to its location in the "Two Rivers Valley" adjacent to the Yazi River and the Mamu River, the Duck River has found jade raw materials transported from afar, etc., it may be an open "water and land dock", or a large market-like settlement that has slowly formed over a long period of time. It brings together and absorbs diverse cultural factors and cultivates unique customs, habits, and beliefs. About 4,000 years ago, under the influence of various factors, the Sanxingdui site developed by leaps and bounds, forming a theocratic state centered on primitive religion, developing from an economic and transportation center to a religious, cultural, and political center, and then gradually incorporating the prehistoric city sites of the Chengdu Plain into it, creating a splendid "Sanxingdui civilization" dating back 4,000 to 3,200 years ago. The "Sanxingdui Phase I culture" is a different type of culture that intersects with the "Baodun culture," which may be a more reasonable explanation for the situation of the Sanxingdui site in the "Sanxingdui Phase I culture." The detailed situation and further analysis will be compared to be discussed after all the archaeological reports have been published.

The process of the ancient Shu civilization and the master of each period of culture

Since the first planned excavation of Sanxingdui in 1980, I have begun to pay attention to the staging of Sichuan archaeological culture and the master problem of each period. In the article "Archaeological Staging of the Bashu Culture" published at the China Archaeological Society in 1983, the method of dividing the early, middle, and late stages was proposed: the early period was the late Neolithic period represented by the ruins of Moon Bay and Sanxingdui to the pre-Bronze Age; the middle period was the middle Bronze Age represented by the sites of Shuiguanyin and Zhuhu Street; the late Bronze Age represented by ship coffins, and pointed out that they "generally represent the silkworm bush fish period of the legendary era in the history of Bashu, the Duyu period of the King of Shu, and the enlightened era." During the coexistence of the Shu state and the Chuandong Ba state". [10] In 1987, the first excavations of Sanxingdui were officially published, divided into four phases, officially named "Sanxingdui Culture",[11] and a large number of chronological data dating from more than 4800 years to 2800 years ago were also measured. [12] In the same year, I first proposed the concept of "Sanxingdui Phase I culture" in my paper. [13] In 1989, the first excavation data of the Twelve Bridges site was officially published, divided into three phases, which created new conditions for exploring the chronology of Sichuan archaeology and culture. [14] In the article "Sanxingdui Archaeological Discoveries and The Study of the Ancient History of Bashu" read at the annual meeting of the Chinese Archaeological Society in 1991, I further explored the chronological sequences, development stages, and social overviews outlined by the ancient discoveries of Sanxingdui and other places for the history of Bashu, and the preliminary conclusion was that archaeologically speaking, the Bashu culture can be divided into three periods and five stages: the early period is the late Neolithic Age, which has experienced about 1,000 years (4800-4000 years ago), and the specific situation has yet to be explored, and it is the first stage for the time being. The mid-term experience is about 1,500 years, including the second stage centered on Sanxingdui (that is, the second and third phases of sanxingdui culture, about 4000-3200 years ago), and the third stage centered on Chengdu (Yin Shang Xi Zhou to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, about 3200-2600 years ago). The late period was divided into the fourth stage of the coexistence of the Spring and Autumn Warring States and the Bashu (around BC600 -BC316), and the fifth stage before the Qin and Bashu to the Han Wudi Emperor (around BC316 -BCl00). These five cultural and historical stages together constitute a closely related and differentiated historical process of more than 3,000 years, which is the chronological system of the Bashu culture that has been revealed to us by the newly discovered archaeological materials in Sichuan in recent years. The archaeological findings reflect several cultural stages in the central areas of ancient Bashu, confirming the existence of several periods of legendary Shu history. However, they were not hereditary lineages as neatly arranged in the history of the Han and Jin Dynasties, but several cultural communities or clan and tribal alliance-style groups, and successively gained dominance.

In the 4,000 years of the left and right, about 3,000, around 2600, and about 2400, several major changes occurred, which may represent the beginning and end of the alternating dominance of the major tribes of silkworm bush, yukai, Duyu, and enlightened. The owner of the Sanxingdui culture may be the Silkworm Cong clan or the Bai Guan clan; the owner of the Sanxingdui boom period is about the Yu Clan; the owner of the Chengdu Twelve Bridges Yangzishan Site may be du Yu clan; the owner of the late Bashu culture such as the Ship Coffin Xindu Tomb is the Enlightened Clan. The establishment of this sequence of processes has opened up a broad world for the study of the early history of Sichuan by combining archaeological materials with historical documents. [15] New archaeological discoveries and research over the past 20 years have shown that these ideas are largely valid. In 1992, Sun Hua put forward the naming of the "Twelve Bridges Culture" and delineated the "Sanxingdui Culture" within the scope of the second and third phases of the Sanxingdui site;[16] The discovery of the Jinsha site in 2001 greatly enriched the connotation of the "Twelve Bridges Culture." [17] After 1995, Chengdu discovered a number of ancient city sites in the late Neolithic period, whose connotations and eras were roughly equivalent to those of the "Sanxingdui Phase I Culture", and which were officially named "Baodun Culture". [18] In 1999, I summarized the sequence of archaeological culture in Sichuan into five stages: the first stage is the late Neolithic period, which has experienced about 800 years (4800-4000 years ago), which can be called the 70 "Sanxingdui Phase I Culture" or "Baodun Culture" in the Study of Ancient Shu Civilization. The second stage is the early Bronze Age, which has experienced more than 800 years (4000 to 3200 years ago), which can be called "Sanxingdui culture". The third stage is the middle of the Bronze Age, which lasted for about 600 years (3200 to 2600 years ago), which can be called the "Twelve Bridges Culture". The fourth stage is the late Bronze Age, which lasted more than 300 years (2600 to 316 BC years ago), which can be called "late Bashu culture". The fifth stage is the "aftermath of bashu culture" that still existed in the early Qin and Han dynasties, which lasted for about 200 years (around 316-100 BC), and finally integrated into the pluralistic and unified Han culture before and after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. [19] At the same time, the views that the owner of the Sanxingdui boom period was the Yu Clan, the Owner of the Twelve Bridges Boom Period was Du Yu, and the Ship Coffin Was Owned by the Enlightened Clan have also been adopted in major museums and many academic treatises, and have basically become the consensus of the academic circles. [20] However, the problem has not really been solved, not only are there different opinions on the title, but there are still some differences on the method of staging, the division of chronology, the determination of connotations, and especially the relationship between the "Sanxingdui Phase I culture" and the "Baodun culture", and each has specific archaeological materials as evidence. There are several rather prominent problems that need to be seriously studied and given reasonable explanations. For example, on the issue of chronological intersection, there is a crossover period of two or three hundred years between the various stages of culture, and I think this may stem from a cross-transition period between different cultures. Another example is the issue of the transfer of centres, which has been continuously shifted at various stages, which I think may be related to the change of dominant ethnic groups at each stage. There is also the problem of the relationship between Sanxingdui and the prehistoric city sites of Chengdu; although Sanxingdui did not have a city wall in the first phase of culture, the entire site predates and is larger than the prehistoric city sites of Chengdu, and directly develops into the powerful Sanxingdui ancient country, and it is possible that it eventually annexed other prehistoric ancient cities in the Chengdu Plain. Finally, there is the question of the master of the culture of each period. The view that the master of the "Sanxingdui Culture" during the prosperous period was the Shu King of the Yu Clan, the master of the "Twelve Bridges Culture" was the Shu King of the Du Yu Clan, and the master of the "Late Bashu Culture" was the Enlightened Shu King, has been widely accepted in recent years, and it is now possible to further explore the issue of the cultural belonging of the Shu King of the Silkworm Cong Clan and the Shu King of the Bai Guan Clan.

Judging from the current archaeological findings, the cultural attribution of the Shu king of the Silkworm Cong clan and the Shu king of the Bai Guan clan is most likely to be the "Sanxingdui Phase I culture" 4800 to 4000 years ago, and the "Baodun culture" 4500 to 3700 years ago. The foregoing suggests that the two may be cultural types or stages that are both related and distinct, have their own focal points, and overlap in time. We further believe that the "Sanxingdui Phase I culture" may be the Shu King of the Silkworm Cong Clan, and the "Baodun Culture" may be the Shu King of the Bai Guan Clan. Although there is no city wall, it is located on the bank of the "Two Rivers" and other characteristics, indicating that there may be an important market formed over a long period of time on the Chengdu Plain, and the center of the largest settlement coincides with the records of "the ancestor of the King of Shu, the Silkworm Bush" ("The Book of the King of Shu") "Its purpose is long, the beginning is called the king" ("Huayang Guozhi") "where the people are stopped, the people are the city" ("Continuation of the Beginning") and other records. On this basis, the "Sanxingdui culture" created 4000 to 3200 years ago, with the bronze mask of The Tumu as the main deity, indicates that they are the inheritors of the "Silkworm Cong Clan" characterized by "Longitudinal Eyes", which in turn proves that the Sanxingdui ruins may be the founding place of the "Silkworm Cong Clan Shu King", and the time should be in the "Sanxingdui Phase I Culture" stage 4800 to 4000 years ago. The master of the "Baodun culture" may be the King of Shu of the Bai Guan clan. From the perspective of time, the "Baodun culture" dates back 4500 to 3700 years ago, between the "Sanxingdui Phase I culture" and the "Sanxingdui culture". From a regional point of view, the "Baodun culture" is located in the southwest of the Chengdu Plain, and the "Sanxingdui Ruins" are located in two places. From a physical point of view, the Chengdu Plain City Site Group during the "Baodun Culture" period has an area of about 100,000 to 600,000 square meters, and all have walls surrounded by four sides. In terms of nature, the sites of the Chengdu Plain during the "Baodun Culture" period may be states or chiefdoms that have both defensive and waterproof functions. Therefore, we think that the master of the "Baodun culture" is probably the "Shu King of the Bai Guan Clan" between the "Shu King of the Silkworm Cong Clan" and the "Shu King of the Yu Clan." Summarizing these situations, my current understanding of the basic relationship between the cultural sequence of Sichuan archaeology and the process of ancient Shu civilization can be summarized as follows: "Sanxingdui Phase I Culture" (late Neolithic period), which is the Shu King period of the Silkworm Cong clan, about 4800 to 4000 years ago; "Baodun Culture" (the late neolithic period), which is the Shu King period of the Bai Guan clan, about 4500 to 3700 years ago; and "Sanxingdui Culture" (Sanxingdui Relic Site Phase II and III) (equivalent to the Xia Shang Period), which is the Shu King period of the Yu Clan, about now 4000~3200 years ago; New archaeological discoveries in Sanxingdui and new understanding of ancient Shu civilization 71 "Twelve Bridges Culture" (including Jinsha ruins) (equivalent to the Shang and Zhou Dynasties), for the Du Yu Shu King period, about 3200 to 2600 years ago; "Late Bashu Culture" (including ship coffin culture) (equivalent to the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period), for the enlightened Shu Dynasty and the coexistence period with the Chuandong Ba Kingdom, about 600 BC to 316 BC; "The remnants of the Bashu Culture" (equivalent to the late Qin State and the early Han Dynasty), It is the Qin and Han dynasties, which is also the intersection and transition period of the two cultures, about 316 BC to about 100 BC. This is only a preliminary general opinion, which still needs to be verified by more ancient data and more specific analysis and argumentation.

3. The status and role of sacrificial activities in the ancient kingdom of Sanxingdui Theocracy

At the "Public Archaeological Report" held by the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in early 2016, the Sanxingdui workstation introduced the archaeological harvest of the "Shu King City" during the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, not only found the northern city wall, but also preliminarily determined that there were two small cities in the north of the Ayutthaya, and put forward several ideas for the construction process of the ancient city of Sanxingdui, and achieved remarkable results. Although there are still some problems that need to be explored and studied, it can be determined that the big city and the small city were gradually built in the second and third phases of the Sanxingdui site, and may be the royal city of the ancient Shu kingdom during the prosperous period of Sanxingdui culture. For many years, I have always believed that the sanxingdui ancient country has the nature of a theocratic state,[21] not only a large number of cultural relics are sacrificial sacrifices, but also some important relics may also be related to sacrifice rituals. In my 1998 book Sanxingdui Culture and Bashu Literature, I pointed out: "The Sanxingdui mound may not be a city wall, but a separately built earthen platform. They may all be related to sacrifices or buildings such as halls and temples, and have an important position in the ancient city of Sanxingdui. These analyses are subject to the next planned large-scale excavation to verify. [22] For a variety of reasons, no article has been written specifically to explain it. The recent excavation of the "Big House of Qingguan Mountain" in Sanxingdui and the re-study of the "Sacrifice Map Yuzhang" have made it clearer to think that Sanxingdui may be the "altar" and other views, and that the "big house of Qingguan mountain" may be a "shrine." Thus putting forward the view that the "altar," "shrine," and "sacrifice pit" together constitute the basic form of Sanxingdui's sacrificial activities. [23] Here, from a macroscopic point of view, we will analyze the special location and role of sacrifice activities in the ancient Shu civilization of Sanxingdui.

(1) Sacrifice activities are an important form of symbolizing state authority and maintaining national unity, and are the ideological and organizational basis of the Sanxingdui theocratic state Among the idols, ceremonial vessels, and sacrifices unearthed in various sacrificial pits in Sanxingdui, there are not only golden rods representing divine power and royal power, but also many life-size bronze statues, the largest of which may be the heads of the witches and the kings, and may be the chiefs of witches of all ranks. Together with the small figures who are on the sacrificial post, they form a witch worship group that maintains the rule of the country in a way that constantly engages in sacrificial activities. "The great affairs of the country are in the worship and the rong". From the large number of artifacts and sacrifices unearthed from Sanxingdui, not a single weapon in the true sense has been found at present, but basically all of them are idols, ceremonial vessels, and sacrifices used for sacrifices. The sacrificial activities and belief concepts carried out around primitive religions play a central role in society, and through such beliefs and activities, they organize society and maintain their unique social structure, which has become the ideological and organizational basis of the state. [24] During the Sanxingdui period, the theocratic state of the ancient Shu civilization reached a peak, creating a unique splendid civilization through the combination of theocracy and royal power, and the chief king at this time appeared as a sorcerer and the "chief of the group of witches". Judging from the excavated cultural relics, the Sanxingdui site has many idols, sacrificial vessels, and ceremonial tools, but there are no weapons that can be used, and even if there are jade ge, stone spears, tooth aid copper ge, and so on, they only have a ceremonial nature. The earliest Bashu-style weapons were concentrated in the Hanzhong-Baoji area, which bordered the culture of the Central Plains, which may have been the frontline position of the ancient Shu Kingdom. The ancient city of Sanxingdui may have been a largely undefended center of religious worship and a center of political, economic, and cultural activities. Therefore, when the Sanxingdui ancient country encountered the impact of some internal and external forces in the late Shang Dynasty, it may lack the necessary ability to resist, and it was soon replaced by the emerging Twelve Bridges culture, and the center of political economy and culture was quickly transferred to the Chengdu area. This may be one of the important reasons for the mysterious demise of the sanxingdui ancient country. Following the Twelve Bridges culture and the Jinsha ruins, its owner may be the Du Yu clan Shu kingdom in the ancient Shu legend. They demarcated the border ("with the slope as the front door, Bears Ears and Lingguan as the rear household"), [25] the study of ancient Shu civilization 72 strong weapons (such as Peng County and other places), [26] the royal power was strengthened, but it was still a country with a distinctly theocratic nature. King Du Yu of the Shu clan not only "fell from heaven", but also became a cuckoo after his death, "Shengxi Mountain Hidden",[27] full of mystery. Judging from the excavated cultural relics, in the middle of the Jinsha site in the Twelve Bridges Cultural Center Area, there is also a large "sacrifice area", there are dozens of "sacrifice pits", and in the formation of several meters thick, a large number of gold, jade, and bronze objects, tons of ivory, thousands of fangs and antlers, most of which are sacrificial vessels and ceremonial utensils, including the sun god bird, jade qun, bronze statue, fish and bird pattern gold belt and other treasures, which proves that high-level religious sacrifice activities have often been carried out here for hundreds of years. [28] The famous "Yangzishan Tutai" may have been an important place of worship during the Twelve Bridges culture,[29] and the exquisite bronze ware produced by the bamboo tiles in Pengxian County also had obvious sacrificial properties. [30] Although the main bronzes of the Enlightened Shu Kingdom in the Late Spring and Autumn Warring States period of the Bashu Culture were already Bashu-style weapons, from the legends of funeral customs such as ship coffins and seals such as the divine emblem,[31] and the turtle spirit "resurrecting from the corpse",[32] it also retained obvious theocratic national characteristics, which originated from the ancient theocratic kingdom during the prosperity of Sanxingdui.

(2) The sacrifice activities have attracted the participation of many clans and tribes from near and far, forming an organic fusion of multicultural factors and contributing to the prosperity of the Sanxingdui culture Among the large number of sacrificial objects unearthed in Sanxingdui, the foreign cultural artifacts that have been discovered are basically religious ceremonial supplies, including idols, sacrificial vessels, and ceremonial utensils, which are probably also used to participate in the sacrificial activities. The religious beliefs and sacrifices of the ancient country of Sanxingdui had great influence and appeal at that time, attracting many clans and tribes from near and far to participate, and bringing with them the characteristic culture of various places. Among them, there are jade statues, jade bi, jade cones, and tiger riders similar to the Liangzhu culture; there are jade zhang, jade, and bronze plaque ornaments similar to the Central Plains Xia culture; there are bronze statues, copper bases, and jade vessels similar to the Shang culture; there are figures, masks, sacred trees, golden rods, and golden masks similar to the West Asian culture; there are also factors similar to the Shijiahe culture, the Three Gorges, Hanzhong, and even some ancient cultures in the northwest region; and there are also elephant teeth, sea shells, and other items from the south and coastal areas. Sanxingdui has not only unearthed artifacts such as golden rods and gold masks similar to Western cultures, but also found silk in Egyptian mummies in egypt in recent years, possibly from the Shu kingdom, indicating that there may have been an "early Silk Road" connecting Eastern and Western cultures as early as three or four thousand years ago. Sanxingdui and the Chengdu Plain had the status and role of nodes and hubs in the early Silk Road civilization before the Han Dynasty. Not only with the West, but also in the exchange with the Central Plains, the Southeast, the Northwest, the Southwest, India, and other civilizations, it may have played such a role, and it is precisely the exchange and integration of diverse cultures that has contributed to the high development of the Sanxingdui civilization. Of course, these factors have been absorbed and transformed into artifacts with the characteristics of Sanxingdui itself. This situation may be caused by a variety of reasons, one of which cannot be ignored is the factor of religious activity. Sanxingdui has a large number of majestic and miraculous idols and sacrificial vessels, making this place gradually become a sacred center of sacrifice. In ancient times, the Sichuan West Plain was known as the "Wild Land of Duguang," which had excellent natural conditions and a harmonious humanistic environment, and the ancient Shu people themselves believed that they were in the "middle of heaven and earth, so it was relatively easy to realize the prayers and wishes of the sacrificers, and it also showed the spiritual experience and magic of this sacrifice center, thus attracting people from afar to come and participate, and bringing with them various unique idols and artifacts, accelerating the integration of nationalities and cultures, and forming a sacred sacrifice center and theocratic state with religious activities as the mainstay.

(iii) Sacrifices promoted the great progress of plastic arts and crafts, and accelerated the development of Sanxingdui's economy and culture "Art itself originated from religion, because art aimed at art to perform some kind of witchcraft to attract the animals and gods on which the tribe depended." [33] In order to please the gods and ancestors, the ancient Shu ancestors made their greatest efforts and dedication, not only adopting the most advanced manufacturing technology at that time, but also exerting superb artistic creativity, creating a large number of exquisite modeling works of art, which became one of the most attractive features of the Sanxingdui culture. The manufacture of bronzes was an important condition for the development of Sanxingdui culture, and at that time people first dedicated this state-of-the-art technology to the sacrifice of the gods, not only did they have a complete bronze manufacturing process, but also used unique casting methods such as the first casting method, the post-casting method, the knock casting method, the casting method, the casting method, and the riveting method, and the sub-mother mortise method, the riveting method, the square hole insertion method, and the frame assembly method. The jade ceremonial vessels used for sacrifice in the four directions of heaven and earth and the communication between people and gods have reached a very high level in number, rich in variety, exquisite in craftsmanship, and beautiful in ornamentation. The gold ware represented by golden rods, golden masks, golden tigers, and gold pendants is unique in the ancient culture of the East. In order to fully achieve the lofty purpose of sacrificing the gods, the sanxingdui ancient country Sanxingdui archaeological new discoveries and new understanding of the ancient Shu civilization These crafts and technologies in the 73rd period have been unprecedentedly developed. During the sanxingdui theocratic period, they mainly used plastic arts to express their beliefs and concepts, and the characteristics of this aspect were particularly prominent. They used majestic masks to express the main gods, including the ancestral gods with protruding eyes; the life-size human figures to express theosophical wizards; and various animal and plant shapes to reflect the primitive nature worship and totem worship, etc. They not only had rich social connotations, but also had the artistic effect of conveying the gods, and reached another peak of ancient plastic arts. Since there are no reliable documentary records and legends and stories, a large amount of social information and cultural traditions of the ancient country of Sanxingdui are hidden in these vivid and concrete artistic images, which need to be deeply explored by people.

(4) The sacrificial activities have raised the understanding of natural phenomena and the relationship between heaven and man, gradually formed a unique concept of belief, had the germ of the idea of the unity of heaven and man, and nurtured the birth of Taoism in Sichuan Every sacrifice activity in Sanxingdui, each preserved sacrifice pit, and even every idol and sacrifice used for sacrifice, has its own specific connotation and purpose, containing the ancient Shu ancestors' observation and understanding of natural things and interpersonal relations, showing specific ideological concepts, and preserving them in an image way. At that time, although people could not use the scientific method to understand and explain the world, they believed that all things were spiritual. In order to communicate the connection between the human world and the divine world, when the ancient Shu ancestors worshiped various gods, through the observation of natural phenomena such as heaven, earth, mountains, rivers, the sun, trees, birds and beasts, they not only grasped the ecological characteristics of various things, but also found that there were many changes and associations in the base, believing that they could communicate with each other. As a result, the ancestors of Sanxingdui developed an understanding and respect for all natural things, meticulous protection of the environment and ecology, formed a unique understanding of the laws of nature and the relationship between heaven and man, and formed the concept of the relationship between heaven, earth, and man, and had the germ of the idea of the unity of heaven and man. They believed that the changes and connections between things had laws to follow, and could be used to express and realize people's wishes, and the main method at that time was to shape them in a certain way and perform sacrifices. They believe that the area around Sanxingdui is "in the midst of heaven and earth," and that they can enter the "kingdom of heaven" through the "Gate of Heaven" through the "Gate of Heaven" through the "Sacred Tree," "Sacred Mountain," and "Ascension" during sacrifices, so as to attain the ideal of ascending to heaven and becoming immortal, immortal, and being with ancestors and gods. [35] This belief concept of integrating feelings and feelings, understanding and thinking, adaptation and pursuit is visualized in the Sanxingdui sacrificial relics. Many of these factors became the source of Taoism, a native Religion of China, and nurtured the original birth of Taoism in Sichuan. In this sense, it can be said that sanxingdui culture is also one of the origins of Chinese civilization. In short, during the sanxingdui ancient period, through repeated sacrifices of various scales and forms, the ideology, centripetal force, and ruling ability of the theocratic state were constantly strengthened. Judging from the specifications, quantity, and form of the idols, ceremonial vessels, and sacrifices, the scale and scene of the sacrifices at that time had reached a very grand and enthusiastic level, and had a wide and far-reaching impact. Coupled with the superior natural conditions and relaxed cultural environment of the Western Sichuan Plain, it is relatively easy to realize the wishes of the sacrifices and the wishes of the people, and the spirituality and influence of the Sanxingdui sacrifice activities have been strengthened, forming an influence and cohesion on the surrounding culture. Just as the "Olympics," "Naadam," and other celebrations were originally a kind of ritual for worshipping gods, the Sanxingdui festival activities have become grand gatherings one after another, attracting and gathering people from various quarters of their culture to participate, promoting the exchange and development of culture, art, economy, technology, and even ideology and concepts, and forming a highly developed ancient civilization center in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, which occupies a special position in both oriental civilization and the world's ancient civilization. The cultural outlook it has shown has enabled us to have a completely new understanding of oriental culture, and it is yet to be studied in an in-depth and meticulous manner, whether it is culture, art, science and technology, ideological concepts, beliefs and customs, and even the form of civilization and cultural exchanges. As Li Xueqin said: "It can be asserted that without an in-depth study of the Bashu culture, it cannot constitute a complete picture of the origin and development of Chinese civilization." Considering the characteristics of the Bashu culture itself and its various relationships with the ancient cultures of the Central Plains, the Western Region, and the South, I am afraid that many problems in the study of Chinese civilization must be solved by the Bashu culture. ”［36］

Notes:[1] Zhao Dianzeng, "Archaeological Discoveries of Sanxingdui and Exploration of the Process of Bashu Civilization", Papers of the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Chinese Archaeological Society, Chengdu, 1999. First published in Exploration of the Early Civilization Process in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River, Bashu Book Society, 2002. Later included in Zhao Dianzeng: Archaeological Research on Sanxingdui, Sichuan People's Publishing House, 2004. [2] Zhao Dianzeng and Chen De'an, "Research on the New Ancient Shu Civilization in the Study of the Archaeological And Cultural Sequence of Bashu 74 Progress", "Archaeological Research on Sanxingdui". [3] Jiang Zhanghua et al., A Preliminary Discussion on pre-Qin Culture in the Chengdu Plain, Su Bingqi and Contemporary Chinese Archaeology, Science Press, 2001. [4] It is mainly the opinions of Chen Xiandan, one of the main excavators of Sanxingdui, and some comrades of the Sanxingdui Museum. [5] "Ancient Culture in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River and the Origin of Chinese Civilization", 2006. [6] The data is stored in the Sanxingdui Workstation of the Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. [7] The data is stored in the Sanxingdui Workstation of the Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. [8] The data is stored in the Sanxingdui Workstation of the Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. [9] Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Briefing on the Excavation of the Warring States Tomb in ChengguanShan, Sanxingdui Site, Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, Sichuan Cultural Relics, No. 4, 2015. [10] Zhao Dianzeng, "Archaeological Phases of bashu Culture", Proceedings of the Third Annual Meeting of the Chinese Archaeological Society, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1983. [11] Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Administration Committee, et al., "Sichuan Guanghan Sanxingdui Site", Journal of Archaeology, No. 2, 1987. [12] For details, see carbon-14 dating data published by Archaeology. [13] Zhao Dianzeng, "Discussion on Several Issues of Bashu Culture", Cultural Relics, No. 10, 1987. [14] Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Administration Committee, et al., "Briefing on the Excavation of Shang Dynasty Wooden Structures in Chengdu Twelve Bridges", Cultural Relics, No. 12, 1987. [15] Zhao Dianzeng: "Sanxingdui Archaeological Discoveries and Research on the Ancient History of Bashu", Sichuan Cultural Relics, 1992 supplement, "Sanxingdui Ancient Shu Culture Research Album". [16] Jinsha Ruins, Chinese Culture Forum, No. 4, 1997. [17] Same as [14]. [18] Jiang Zhanghua et al., "The Early Ancient City Site Group of the Chengdu Plain: A Preliminary Discussion on the Culture of Baodun", Chinese Culture Forum, No. 4, 1997. [19] Same as [1]. [20] Sanxingdui Museum, Jinsha Museum and other major museums in the province use this theory. [21] Zhao Dianzeng, "A Brief Discussion on the Morphological Characteristics of Ancient Shu Civilization", Chinese Culture Forum, No. 4, 2005. [22] Zhao Dianzeng, Sanxingdui Culture and Bashu Civilization, Jiangsu Education Publishing House, 2005. [23] Zhao Dianzeng: A Preliminary Study on the Sacrifice Forms of the Trinity of Sanxingdui "Tai", "Dian", and "Pit"" to be published. [24] Zhao Dianzeng, "Archaeological Discoveries in Sanxingdui and the Exploration of the Process of Bashu Civilization", "Exploration of the Early Civilization Process in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River", Bashu Book Society, 2002. [25] (Eastern Jin Dynasty) Chang Xuan: Huayang Guozhi Shuzhi. [26] Fan Guijie and Hu Changyu, "Bronze Ware stored in the Western Zhou Cellar of Pengxian County, Sichuan", Cultural Relics, No. 6, 1981. [27] (Eastern Jin Dynasty) Chang Xuan: Huayang Guozhi ShuZhi. [28] Same as [16]. [29] Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Administration Committee, "Briefing on the Qingli Of Tutai Site in Yangzishan, Chengdu", Journal of Archaeology, No. 4, 1957. [30] Same as [26]. [31] Sichuan Provincial Museum: Report on the Excavation of Sichuan Ship Coffins, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1960. [32] (Eastern Jin Dynasty) Chang Xuan: Huayang Guozhi ShuZhi. [33] Solomon Reinak, General History of Religion in Orpheus, reprinted from Uglinović: Art and Religion, Triptych Books, 1987. [34] a. Zeng Zongmao, "Analysis of the Composition of Bronze Artifacts Excavated from the No. 1 and No. 2 Sacrifice Pits of Guanghan Sanxingdui", Sichuan Cultural Relics, 1989 Supplement, "Guanghan Sanxingdui Ruins Research Album"; b. Zeng Zongmao: "Analysis of the Composition of Bronze Artifacts Excavated from the No. 2 Sacrifice Pit of Guanghan Sanxingdui", Sichuan Cultural Relics, No. 1, 1991. [35] Zhao Dianzeng: "Sanxingdui 'Sacrifice Map' Yuzhang Re-study:Discussion on the Ancient Shu People's "Heavenly Gate" View", to be published. [36] Zhao Dianzeng:

What sanxingdui culture reveals

Jiang Linchang Word count: 3029

This discovery needs to be considered in conjunction with a series of other archaeological discoveries and relevant documentary records in the Chengdu Plain over the past 90 years, in order to better grasp the unique connotation and style of the Sanxingdui culture and judge its important position and far-reaching influence in the entire history of Chinese civilization.

The mystery that is gradually being unveiled

The Sanxingdui site was discovered as early as 1929. In 1933, Professor Ge Weihan of West China University led his assistants to the site for a 10-day field excavation. Since then, Mr. Feng Hanji of Sichuan University has also carried out some investigations. However, due to the limitations of conditions, before the founding of New China, a clear understanding of the chronology and cultural attributes of the Sanxingdui site could not be obtained.

In the early 1980s, the Sichuan Provincial Archaeological Institute conducted new excavations on the Sanxingdui site. Eighteen house foundations were found, as well as a large number of jade, stone and pottery. Through comparative analysis, archaeologists believe that these cultural types with distinctive characteristics are still widely distributed in the Chengdu Plain, so the excavation report recommends that they be named "Sanxingdui Culture".

The re-excavation in 1986 revealed two magical sacrificial pits, which unearthed large bronze idols, giant bronze sacred trees, bronze longitudinal masks with eyes protruding like flashlights, golden masks, golden scepters, and a large number of jade and ivory. These strangely shaped artifacts, full of mysterious colors, have never been seen in other archaeological excavations in China, thus shocking the domestic and foreign academic circles.

From September 2020 to March 2021, the six newly discovered sacrificial pits in Sanxingdui are basically the same as the two sacrificial pits discovered in 1986 in terms of shape and orientation, and are jointly distributed on the east terrace south of the Sanxingdui city wall. In addition to the same artifacts unearthed in the pit, there are also large bronze large-mouth figures, giant bronze masks, bronze heads painted on the eyes, fragments of gold masks, bird-shaped gold ornaments, gold leaf, jade and ivory sculptures, and so on.

At present, archaeologists have made carbon 14 dating of 4 of the 6 sacrificial pits, and the dating data obtained is between 3200-3000 years ago, which can be determined as the late Shang Dynasty.

In addition to these 8 sacrificial pits, for more than 30 years, archaeologists have discovered the ancient city walls of Sanxingdui, palace areas and public cemeteries. Around this central ancient city, a small town of Moon Bay, a small town of Cangbaobao, and a cemetery of Rensheng Village have also been found. All indications are that the ancient city of Sanxingdui was the center of the ancient Shu Kingdom. After 90 years of gradually unveiling its mystery, a once glorious ancient civilization has finally been clearly displayed in front of the world.

Myths and legends turned out to be real history

Li Bai's "Shu Dao Difficulty" has clouds: "Shu Dao is difficult, it is difficult to go to qingtian!" Silkworm bushes and fish, how dazed to open the country! Erlai is forty-eight thousand years old, and is not inhabited by Qin Saitong. "In the past, due to the geographical environment, the history of the ancient Shu kingdom has always been in myths and legends. For example, Yang Xiong's "Benji of the King of Shu" said: "The first of the King of Shu, the name of the silkworm bush, the descendant name is Known as Bai Xi, and the later name is Yu Jiao." These three generations, each hundreds of years old, were deified and immortal, and their people were quite with the king. "This is the earliest myth and legend about the ancestors of the Shu Kingdom. Its names "Silkworm Bush", "Bai Shu", "Yu Jie", and later "Bo Ze", "Wangdi", "Cuckoo", "Turtle Spirit" and other ancestral names are related to animal and plant totems. It shows that the Shu people at that time were still in a period of ignorance and barbarism. The ancient history of the Shu kingdom recorded in the literature has always been shrouded in illusory myths and legends.

However, the discovery of the Sanxingdui site, as well as the discovery of a series of archaeological sites in the Chengdu Plain, has given us a glimpse of the true face of the ancient Shu civilization hidden behind these illusory myths and legends.

Archaeologists found the composition of silk protein in samples taken from the six newly discovered sacrificial pits. This proves that as early as the Shang Dynasty, the ancestors of the ancient Shu kingdom were already engaged in the silkworm silk weaving industry, and this production tradition should have originated very early. The first generation ancestor of the ancient Shu ancestors mentioned above, "Silkworm Bush", reflects this fact. Silkworms eat mulberry leaves and spit silk, which can make silk garments for people, and naturally become the protector of the ancestors. Moreover, the process of silkworm spawning, pupae, cocooning, and finally hiding is similar to the process of human reproduction, nurturing, growth, and death. Under the domination of the concept of witchcraft interpenetration, the ancestors of the ancient Shu worshipped silkworms, believing that silkworms could communicate with the gods of heaven and earth and protect the fate of mankind, so they deified the origin ancestor of their own tribe as a "silkworm bush" totem.

Chengdu Ping was originally the home of fish and rice. Farming, fishing, hunting, production and life first need sunshine and rain. Therefore, the ancestors of ancient Shu had the custom of worshipping the sun god. There are a large number of bronzes and gold artifacts excavated from Sanxingdui that reflect the themes of sun worship, such as the sun bronze god tree, the bronze longitudinal sun god mask, and the sun-patterned gold leaf. The ancient Shu ancestors also used this as a basis to transform the sun god animal into a bird in the air and a swimming fish in the water. Among the artifacts unearthed from Sanxingdui are the spoon with the head handle of the bronze bird, the bronze tree god bird, the bronze fish pattern vessel, the golden fish ornament, the fish pattern gold leaf, etc., all of which reflect the ancient Shu ancestors' worship of the animalized sun god. The mythical names such as "Fish Spirit", "Turtle Spirit" and "Enlightened" among the ancestors of ancient Shu have also been confirmed in these Sanxingdui artifacts. Nowadays, there is also an ancient village name of "Yujiao Village" in the Chengdu Plain, which shows the influence of this myth, legend and religious belief.

In the past 90 years, in addition to Sanxingdui, important archaeological sites found in Chengdu include Baodun ruins, Jinsha ruins, Guiyuanqiao ruins, Twelve Bridges ruins, Mangcheng ruins, Shuanghe ruins, Zizhu ruins, Bamboo Tile Street ruins, Chengba ruins and so on. Archaeologists have conducted long-term analysis and research and comprehensive judgment on the relics of archaeological sites in Chengdu. So far, a basically complete sequence of archaeological cultures has been preliminarily established.

Guiyuanqiao culture: 5100-4700 years ago Baodun culture: 4600-4000 years ago Equivalent to the Era of the Five Emperors

Sanxingdui culture: 4000-3000 years ago, equivalent to the Xia Shang era

Twelve Bridges Culture: 3000-2600 years ago, equivalent to the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period

Among them, Baodun culture and Guiyuanqiao culture have shown the origin of civilization, and Sanxingdui culture and Twelve Bridges culture have entered the stage of civilization. This should be the true history of the ancient Shu civilization. The excavation and research of the Sanxingdui sacrifice pit and its excavated cultural relics have made the mystery of the ancient myths and legends recorded in the literature be unveiled layer by layer, and the history of the ancient civilization created by the ancestors of the ancient Shu can finally make us visible, touchable and touchable in the 21st century.

Magical flowers grow on multicultural soil

The analysis of the fauna type and settlement morphology of modern Chinese archaeology in the past 100 years has fully proved that the origin and development of Chinese civilization has experienced three major stages of development: "pluralistic parallelism" in the Five Emperors era, "pluralistic integration" in xia and Shang Zhou, and "pluralistic unification" after the Qin and Han dynasties. The Chengdu area is surrounded by high mountains and heavy forests on all sides, and the valleys and rivers are rushing, and these high mountains and water dangers make the place "48,000 years old, not with Qin Saitong" people. This determines that sanxingdui culture has its own distinctive characteristics. Excavations have shown that Sanxingdui is a self-contained culture in the Chengdu Plain, represented by small flat bottom jars, high-stalk beans, bird-headed spoons and other instrument types. Scholars therefore refer to this culture as the "early Bashu culture."

In the regional culture of the entire Chinese civilization, the characteristics of the "early Bashu culture" in Chengdu are the most different compared with other regional cultures. Whether it is archaeologists or the majority of tourists, when they see the Sanxingdui site, the Baodun site, the Jinsha site and the cultural relics they produce, they will be very surprised, and their hearts will be strongly impacted. This is the main reason why we call the Sanxingdui culture a strange flower in the ancient Chinese cultural garden.

The main body that created the strange flowers and flowers of Sanxingdui was naturally the ancestors of the ancient Shu kingdom, but this did not rule out the possibility of the ancestors of the ancient Shu kingdom interacting with other regions. Li Bai's statement that "Erlai is forty-eight thousand years old and does not communicate with Qin Saitong" is nothing more than the poet's exaggeration. According to the Classic of Mountains and Seas and other documents, the Changyi clan, a branch of the Yellow Emperor's tribe, "descended to Ruoshui" and married a Shushan woman. This reflects that the Central Plains culture had been introduced to the Chengdu Plain during the Five Emperors era and integrated with the indigenous culture. The literature also says that after the King of Shu and the King of Xia were both emperors of the Central Plains, this reflected that there was a certain correlation between Xia culture and Shu culture. Among the cultural relics unearthed in Sanxingdui, some of the pottery features "have many similarities with some local types of the Longshan culture in the Central Plains, the Erlitouxia culture, and so on."

In the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the ancestors of the ancient Shu State and the Shang culture in the Central Plains and the Chu culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River were even more connected, and Mr. Li Xueqin pointed out in the article "How Shang Culture Was Introduced to Sichuan": "The bronze culture of Sanxingdui is closest to Hubei in Hunan, and it is also related to the Huai River Basin. Therefore, it seems that we can imagine that the Shang culture with the Central Plains as the core first advanced southward, then passed through the Huai River to the Yangtze River, crossed Dongting Lake, and at the same time traced the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River to Shudi. This is likely to be a major route for the Shang culture to reach the Chengdu Plain. ”

The above phenomena show that the Sanxingdui culture is first of all a strange flower that takes root, sprouts, grows and blooms in the special soil of the ancient Shu civilization; at the same time, this strange flower fully absorbs the sunshine and rain dew of the Central Plains culture and the Jingchu culture in the process of growth, and thus appears particularly dazzling. The local subjectivity of Sanxingdui culture and its integration with surrounding cultures once again show that Chinese civilization is a dialectical relationship of diversity, richness, integration and unity. Therefore, pluralism is the general feature of Chinese culture.

What do Western scholars see through Sanxingdui?

Original

Istoria

Article Observer Network columnist Istoile

He is a researcher of classics and a freelance writer of literary history

The Sanxingdui site has always attracted the attention of academic circles and media circles at home and abroad, and the recent new discoveries have gained the sensational effect of "waking up and shocking the world".

Rowan K. Flad, a professor of archaeology in Harvard's Department of Anthropology, published an article in the Washington Post on May 11, making these points :

On April 10, Egypt announced the discovery of the ruins of an important ancient Egyptian capital more than 3,000 years ago in the southern city of Luxor, known as the "Lost City of Gold". This is even seen as the "second most important archaeological discovery" since the excavation of Tutankhamun's mausoleum in the 1920s.

This discovery in Egypt was widely reported by the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), National Public Broadcasting (NPR), The Washington Post, The New York Times and other mainstream media in the United States, and was called "an important moment in Egyptology". The sheer volume of the report stands in stark contrast to the little attention paid to the archaeological discoveries in Sanxingdui, China's Sichuan province, two weeks ago.

In fact, the discovery of Sanxingdui should be taken seriously, because it is an important window into understanding East Asian culture.

In fact, the sanxingdui research in overseas academic circles does not lack "tradition" and there is no lack of accumulation. The famous archaeologist Lothar von Falkenhausen also edited a book entitled "Strange Convex Eyes", which includes the views of Western scholars on Sanxingdui.

There are many archaeological sites in China, if the scale of the sites is more magnificent than Sanxingdui, there are many more magnificent; if the paper is clear, there are many sites that are earlier than the Sanxingdui civilization, why is sanxingdui so influential in the world?

Rovan Vlad's article

"Accidental" jade

First of all, this actually has a lot to do with the history of early excavations at the Sanxingdui site.

In the spring of 1929, in the hinterland of the Chengdu Plain, in the village of Moon Bay in the west of Guanghan County, Sichuan, Yan Daocheng, a farmer living here, accidentally found more than 400 pieces of jade tools in his farmland. Later, he sold these "accidental" jade in batches to the antique market in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, not far from Guanghan. Since then, the jade of Moon Bay has also spread among antique dealers in Chengdu.

In 1931, V.H. Donnithorne, an Anglican missionary to Guanghan, also noticed the jade. Dong Yidu was not only a missionary, he was also a member of the Chengdu West China Frontier Studies Society at that time, and he was quite accomplished in the study of Sichuan's history and culture. Founded in the 1920s, the West China Frontier Studies Society was an international academic institution specializing in the history and culture of western China at that time, and its participants were mainly teachers and students of West China Union University, a church school in Chengdu at that time. In addition, many European and American missionaries who were in Sichuan at that time joined in.

Dong Yidu soon realized that this batch of jade was very different from ordinary antique artifacts and may have important historical value. So he contacted the Guanghan County Government to go to Moon Bay to investigate, and at the same time he also asked Dai Qianhe( D. Qianhe, who was then the president of the West China Frontier Research Society. Dr. S. Dye) went with him.

In the summer of that year, an expedition team composed of teachers and students of the West China Frontier Studies Society headed by Dong Yidu and Dai Qianhe went to Guanghan Moon Bay twice to conduct field investigations on the site of the excavation of jade tools, and Yan Daocheng, the discoverer of sanxingdui jade tools, also donated some of the cultural relics collected to the expedition team and handed them back to the West China Union University Museum for preservation, helping archaeologists of the university to further study.

The shadow of the "Strange Convex" book

"International" research team

Shortly after returning to Chengdu from Guanghan, Dai Qianhe published an English paper titled "Some Ancient Circles, Squares, Angles and Curves in Earth and in Stone in" in the Journal of the West China Border Research Society, a journal sponsored by the West China Frontier Studies Society Szechwan, China）。 In this article, Dai Qianhe believes that these stone tools were produced around the first millennium BC, and should belong to the cultural remnants of the ancient Shu civilization before the Qin dynasty destroyed Bashu and entered the Chengdu Plain.

Soon, the new director of the museum of West China Union University, Ge Weihan (D. Dr. C. Graham also noted the value of the artifacts in the collection, and he asked Dong Yidu in detail about the details of the previous visit. Later, under the contact of Dong Yidu, at the invitation of the Guanghan County Government, together with Lin Mingjun, assistant librarian of the West China Union University Museum, he arrived in Guanghan in the spring of 1934 to conduct the first scientific archaeological excavation of the Sanxingdui site.

Since there was no precedent for archaeological excavations presided over by foreigners in China at that time, in order to avoid causing unnecessary contradictions, the governor of Guanghan County came forward to preside over the excavation affairs, of course, the actual specific operation was still the responsibility of the archaeological team of the West China Union University Museum, that is, mainly Ge Weihan and Lin Mingjun.

German is a well-known American archaeologist and anthropologist who received his Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Chicago. He came to China in 1911 as an American Baptist pastor and lived in China for more than three decades until 1948. In 1932, in view of Ge Weihan's previous research on the culture of ethnic minorities in southern Sichuan, he was recommended by the Harvard Yenching Society in the United States to become the director of the museum of West China Union University, and concurrently served as a professor of cultural anthropology at West China Union University, where he taught archaeology and anthropology. It was precisely because of this opportunity that Ge Weihan was able to access the cultural relics collected in Guanghan by West China Union University the previous year, and decided to personally go to the local area to investigate again.

The archaeological team of West China Union University conducted an archaeological excavation near Chengjia in Yandao for about 10 days, and found more than 600 pieces of jade, stone tools and pottery, which were later handed over to the West China Union University Museum for collection in the name of the Guanghan County Government. The following year, Ge Weihan published the article "A Preliminary Report of the Hanchow Excavation" in the Journal of the West China Frontier Research Society, in which He weihan not only systematically analyzed the artifacts of the first scientific archaeological excavation of Sanxingdui, but also believed that the latest date of the Sanxingdui cultural site should be the early Western Zhou Dynasty, that is, about 1100 BC.

Since then, the Chinese Lin Mingjun, who went to the excavation together, also published an article entitled "The Discovery and Excavation of Ancient Relics of the Guanghan Dynasty" in the Shuowen Monthly, in which he called the Sanxingdui site "Guanghan Culture" and believed that the site was dated to the end of the Neolithic Period, about before the Yin Shang Period, and the excavated jade tools should be objects from the Western Zhou Dynasty.

The Chinese and English papers of Ge Weihan and Lin Mingjun have had a huge impact on academic circles at home and abroad, and some scholars have even proposed that the Bashu culture did not come from the yellow emperor's lineage, but an independently developed civilization.

Among them, the most influential was the famous historian Gu Jiegang, who published a heavyweight paper in the 1940s entitled "The Relationship between Ancient Bashu and the Central Plains and Its Criticism", in which he believed that the Bashu culture should be a culture that developed independently and was only integrated into the Central Plains culture in the late Warring States period.

Of course, there are also scholars who disagree with the reference to "Bashu culture", among which the more representative is Mr. Zheng Dekun, who later succeeded him as the director of the Museum of West China Union University, who was also the first non-foreign director of the West China Union University Museum. After comprehensively collecting archaeological materials from all over Sichuan at that time, he published the book "History of Ancient Culture in Sichuan", which also specifically involved Sanxingdui, which he chose to call "Guanghan culture" and considered it an important part of the Central Plains culture.

The works of Ge Weihan and Zheng Dekun were later published overseas, and it was precisely because of the "internationalization" of the early excavation team members of the Sanxingdui site that western society learned about the archaeological excavation work in Guanghan, a small inland city in western China, and what made overseas scholars more interested was the "non-Central Plains" that the Sanxingdui site showed a difference from the Central Plains culture represented by Yin Ruins. This also involves an academic case of "Chinese civilization in the West".

It is believed to be quite similar to the Sanxingdui Bronze Sacred Tree

The Exotic Imagination of Chinese Civilization?

The first to propose Chinese civilization was the Catholic missionary in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and Nan Huairen once called Fuxi the "thirteenth generation descendant" of Adam. Li Zubai, a Chinese Catholic who was influenced by missionaries such as Tang Ruowang, also proposed in his "Biography of Tianxue" that "at the beginning of China, people were really like the Miao people of Deya".

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the French scholar Terrien de Lacouperie re-proposed the Western hypothesis in his article "Western Origin of the Early Chinese Civilization" by comparing the similarities between ancient Chinese civilization and ancient Babylonian civilization. Many of the new materials in Lakbury's research originated from the results of Assyrian studies at that time, so his "Western Sayings" were not accepted by the mainstream Sinology community in Europe.

When Lakbury's views were introduced to Japan, it caused a huge response, Shiratori Coogie and others believed that traditional oriental history researchers were biased, he firmly believed that ancient Chinese civilization was influenced by the West, and believed that this was the inevitable result of civilization exchanges, and later Chinese scholars such as Zhang Taiyan also echoed Lakbury's "Western Saying" through the interpretation of different languages.

However, this kind of "Western Speaking" was introduced into China in the political background of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, and it also had a full purpose. When Zhang Taiyan later found that "Xi Li" did not conform to his political tendencies, he refuted it. Because if the Han and Manchus were both foreign nationalities, the slogan of "expelling the Tartars" would lose its legitimacy.

In any case, Chinese culture is an intractable topic in the study of ancient Chinese history in the early 20th century. The Swedish archaeologist Johan Gunnar Anderson, after comparing the faience pottery excavated at the Yangshao site with the Anno culture faience pottery found in Central Asia and the Tripolle culture faience pottery in Ukraine, believes that the production technology of Chinese pottery was imported from Central Asia, so chinese culture may also be imported from Central Asia. This view has further promoted the discussion of scholars at home and abroad about the West.

Of course, later Liang Siyong discovered the Hougang Triasse in Anyang, Henan, which proved that yangshao culture, Longshan culture and Shang Dynasty culture were in the same vein and were not fundamentally affected by the outside world. Anderson also admitted this, and at the same time said that he was wrong about the Yangshao culture, and the technical reference could not represent the source of civilization. Since then, Anderson himself has no longer adhered to the Western view of Chinese culture.

In the face of such an "exotic civilization" as Chinese civilization, Western scholars with their own cultural traditions will inevitably use a comparative perspective at the beginning to pay attention to the similarities and differences between Chinese civilization and other civilizations. In the European sinology community, "Western Speaking" is just a small wave in the academic ocean, and has never formed a trend, but after being introduced to East Asia, it has attracted great attention in the academic circles. The intellectuals of the late Qing Dynasty actively responded, in fact, they all had political trade-offs. It was not until new archaeological evidence emerged that it finally disappeared.

The Centrism of the Central Plains was broken

After the "Western Theory" was broken, the view of "Central Plains Centrism" has always dominated the study of Chinese history. With the excavation of archaeological sites such as Sanxingdui, especially after Gu Jiegang, a representative of the Skeptical Sect, published the article "The Relationship between Ancient Bashu Culture and the Central Plains and Its Criticism", the inherent view that "Bashu originated from the Yellow Emperor Theory" was challenged, and the view of the multi-source origin of Chinese civilization gradually emerged. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially in the 1980s, large-scale excavations of Sanxingdui were carried out. This excavation has made the view of "the multi-source origin of Chinese civilization" gain more market.

In recent years, the archaeological research of the Silk Road has also greatly promoted scholars' understanding of early civilization, and in the past, scholars believed that the Silk Road of Chinese and Western civilization exchanges started from Chang'an in China, entered the western region and Central Asia through the Hexi Corridor in the west, and finally reached Rome in Europe. Recently, scholars have found that there are also "steppe silk roads" and "maritime silk roads" in addition.

Not only that, through the excavation of the Sanxingdui site and the study of the archaeological history and culture of other parts of Sichuan, scholars have found that there may be an important communication line in ancient China from Chengdu, Sichuan, through Dali, Baoshan, Dehong in Yunnan, into Myanmar, and then to India, known as the "Silk Road" of the southwest land, and this new path of exchange between Chinese and Western civilizations has further attracted the attention of Chinese and foreign scholars. The initial consensus formed was that the "exotic" colors in the Sanxingdui site could be explained from the perspective of cultural exchange.

By the 1990s, Western scholars also began to accept the concept of the pluralism and integration of Chinese civilization, and Chinese civilization was no longer favored by the West. The famous scholar Steven F. Sage, after conducting a comprehensive study of the bronzes excavated from Sanxingdui, believes that the production of Sanxingdui bronzes belongs to the same tradition as the Shang Dynasty of the same era.

The above-mentioned famous archaeologist Lothar von Falkenhausen compared the artifacts in the Jinsha site and the Sanxingdui sacrifice pit in Chengdu, Sichuan, with archaeological discoveries in other parts of China, arguing that the Sanxingdui culture had an important connection with the Culture of the Central Plains in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, and showing that the Bronze Age Sichuan was by no means isolated in the cultural exchanges of the East Asian continent.

In the autumn of 1980, Peking University's 1977 and 1978 archaeology students took a group photo of their internship in Zhucheng, Shandong Province (Luo Tai on the left in front of the last row of trees), pictured from the surging news.

The reason why the Exotic Eye pays special attention to the strange convex eyes of Sanxingdui is that it pays attention to the origin of Chinese civilization. In a certain sense, this is also a manifestation of the positive interaction and exchange between Chinese and foreign archaeological circles.