Current status of Pit 5
Cover news reporter Dai Zhuxin Yang Bo
The No. 5 pit of Sanxingdui, which has the largest collection of gold, has been cleaned up and excavated with a total of 19 pieces of nearly complete gold, 2 pieces of jade, 2 pieces of bronze, and nearly 300 pieces of ivory carving fragments. Recently, a gold object shaped like an axe has been revealed, which surprised and surprised the archaeologists.
According to reports, it is a gold object with a shape that may be similar to an axe, which does not look large, but uses a lot of materials, and may be heavier than the gold mask.
"In the past, the gold tools we found were all flaky, because the gold raw materials were precious, and the ancients used thin flakes in production, but this artifact was very different." Li Haichao, a professor at Sichuan University's School of Archaeology and archaeology and head of the excavation site at Pit 5, said that if the final excavation found that it was indeed an axe, then Sanxingdui would be "more difficult to understand".
Archaeologists are inspecting the gold artifacts
He explained that in ancient times, gold tools generally could not be used as practical tools, their raw materials were precious, hard and soft, and once used, the axe blade would wear out. What is the significance of the ancients making a golden axe? Of course, maybe it's an ornament or some other type of artifact, which is a whole new clue to the study of Sanxingdui anyway.
In addition to the "Golden Axe", the newly discovered gold artifacts in Pit 5, there are also "Golden Beads". "We've recently found a lot of gold beads, some the size of a grain of rice." Li Haichao speculated that these gold beads may have been dissolved after other gold objects in the pit were burned.
Through preliminary detection, the newly discovered gold beads have reached a maximum gold content of 99%. Compared with the gold artifacts excavated from Sanxingdui before, the gold content is higher. "The difference in gold content may indicate that the gold beads are not dissolved from other gold objects in the pit."
Suspected "Golden Axe"
Thousands of years ago, how did the Sanxingdui people make such fine gold beads? Li Haichao speculated that it was most likely made using the "fried bead" process, that is, the gold solution was dripped into warm water to form gold beads of different sizes. The newly discovered gold beads in Pit 5 may be the earliest bead-frying process in China.
In addition, a large number of round gold pieces in Pit 5 are still waiting to be excavated and extracted. These golden discs are regularly distributed in the pit. Some experts speculate that they may have been some decorations, which were attached to a certain costume as embellishments, which is very gorgeous.
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