After 34 years, the Sanxingdui site in Sichuan started to excavate the sacrificial pit again, with a high level of scientific and technological archaeology!

  Author: according to Tong Yue

  Photo: Photo courtesy of Sanxingdui Museum

  "Sleeping for thousands of years, I woke up and shocked the world." Mentioned the Sanxingdui site in Guanghan, Sichuan, the world said.

Bronze longitudinal eye mask, unearthed in 1986 at No. 2 Sacrificial Pit of Sanxingdui Site.

Photo courtesy of Fan Li

  The Sanxingdui ancient site covers an area of ​​12 square kilometers and has a history of 5,000 to 3,000 years. It is the largest, longest, and richest ancient city, ancient country, and ancient Shu cultural site discovered in southwest China. There are precious cultural relics such as the 2.62-meter-high bronze giant man, the 1.38-meter-wide bronze mask, and the 3.95-meter-high bronze sacred tree. They are known as one of the greatest archeological discoveries of mankind in the 20th century.

  Excavation of Sanxingdui Site

  The discovery and excavation process of the Sanxingdui site is called the story of one hoe and two pits.

  In 1929, when Yan Daocheng, a farmer in Sichuan, was working, he went down with a hoe and accidentally found a pit of jade tools, including stone bi, jade zhang, jade cong, jade kui, jade ring, jade chai, jade bead, jade axe, More than 400 pieces of jade, including stone spears.

He used a hoe to expose the tip of the iceberg at the Sanxingdui site that had been "sleeping" for thousands of years, thus unveiling the mystery of the splendid ancient Shu civilization.

The excavation site of the sacrificial pit in 1986.

Photo courtesy of Sanxingdui Museum

  The excavation of the two sacrificial pits in Sanxingdui began in July 1986.

Workers in the brick factory found jade swords while digging the soil. The Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, which has been stationed at the archaeological site of the Sanxingdui site, urgently launched the excavation of Sacrificial Pit No. 1, and unearthed golden rods, bronze heads and bronze statues Wait for a large number of cultural relics.

The excavation site of the sacrificial pit in 1986.

Photo courtesy of Sanxingdui Museum

  When the excavation of the No. 1 sacrificial pit came to an end, the brick factory workers dug up the No. 2 sacrificial pit with a hoe not far away, opening a larger treasure house.

Not only were bronze sacred trees, sun wheels, and bronze masks unearthed here, more than 6000 seashells were found at the bottom.

1986 Sanxingdui bronze longitudinal-eye mask unearthed.

Photo courtesy of Sanxingdui Museum

  In 1988, the Sanxingdui site was directly approved as a national key cultural relics protection unit, and more than ten brick kilns on the site were all closed.

In 1997, Sanxingdui Museum was also built in the northeast corner of the site area, becoming one of the well-known cultural attractions in Sichuan.

The excavation of the sacrificial pit starts again

  On September 6, 2020, with the launching ceremony of the "Ancient Shu Civilization Protection and Inheritance Project·Archaeological Excavation of Sanxingdui Site (2020)", after a lapse of 34 years, the Sanxingdui site officially launched the excavation of the sacrificial pit again.

According to Lei Yu, head of the Sanxingdui Site Workstation, a series of professional laboratories are currently being built at the excavation site. After the laboratories are completed, the excavation will be officially started. The excavation time is expected to be about 2 to 3 months.

Bronze head with gold mask, unearthed in 1986 at No. 2 Sacrificial Pit of Sanxingdui Site.

Photo courtesy of Sanxingdui Museum

  Lei Yu said that the main reason for the laboratory to go first is to carry out the protection and extraction of organic matter in a timely manner. Silk, lacquerware, bamboo and woodware, as well as characters that may exist on utensils, etc., if they are not protected in time, they are likely to be unearthed. Destroy or disappear.

"Compared with the excavation of the first and second sacrificial pits 34 years ago, we have made sufficient preliminary preparations for this excavation."

Bronze large standing figure, unearthed in 1986 at No. 2 Sacrificial Pit of Sanxingdui Site.

Photo courtesy of Sanxingdui Museum

  According to Leiyu, during this excavation, the content of scientific and technological archaeology was very large.

The excavation in 1986 basically only used carbon-14 dating technology.

In addition to carbon 14 dating and organic matter protection, a number of scientific and technological methods have been adopted in the fields of jade protection and bronze protection.

At the same time, a dedicated team of experts was formed, and experts in various fields of Chinese archaeology were invited to be stationed at the site. After the relics were unearthed, they were timely and fully protected.

Bronze head with gold mask, unearthed in 1986 at No. 2 Sacrificial Pit of Sanxingdui Site.

Photo courtesy of Fan Li

  Talking about the excavation, Leiyu said frankly that the archaeological community has great expectations for the remains of the sacrificial pit and the buildings outside the pit.

At present, several sacrificial pits have been discovered at the Sanxingdui site, forming sacrificial pits. Except for the sacrificial pits that were excavated this time, the remaining sacrificial pits will also be excavated in recent years.

"However, the sacrificial pits discovered so far are only part of the sacrificial area of ​​the Sanxingdui site, not the entire sacrificial area. In the future, exploration of the surrounding area will be strengthened to strive to find a more complete sacrificial area."

Bronze kneeling figure, unearthed in 1986 at No. 2 Sacrificial Pit of Sanxingdui Site.

Photo courtesy of Fan Li

  It is reported that the Sanxingdui site is generally considered to be the royal city of the ancient Shu Kingdom during the Xia and Shang periods.

Although related research work has been ongoing, Lei Yu said that the research on the Sanxingdui site has just started, and there is still a lot of basic work to follow up, such as the structure of Sanxingdui city, the location of roads, gates, and workshops.

Yuzhang, unearthed from the No. 2 sacrificial pit of Sanxingdui site in 1986.

Photo courtesy of Sanxingdui Museum

  On this basis, in order to carry out excavations and research more comprehensively, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has signed cooperation agreements with more than 10 research institutions and universities on the work related to the Sanxingdui site, involving scientific and technological archaeology, cultural relics protection, and field excavations. And many other fields.

Bronze dragon cylinder, unearthed in 1986 at No. 2 Sacrificial Pit of Sanxingdui Site.

Photo courtesy of Fan Li

The archaeological research work of the Sanxingdui site has never stopped

  Although the excavation of the sacrificial pit was restarted after a lapse of 34 years, during this period, the archaeological research work on the Sanxingdui site has never stopped.

Bronze bird head figure, unearthed in 1986 at No. 2 Sacrificial Pit of Sanxingdui Site.

Photo courtesy of Fan Li

  In April 2019, the Propaganda Department of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee organized the implementation of the "Ancient Shu Civilization Protection and Inheritance Project", and focused on the archaeological work of the Sanxingdui site, for the development of the scientific archaeological work of the Sanxingdui site in the new era and the deepening of the connotation and value of the ancient Shu civilization Excavation provides an important opportunity.

Golden rod, unearthed in 1986 at No. 1 sacrificial pit of Sanxingdui site.

Photo courtesy of Sanxingdui Museum

  In August 2019, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology compiled the "Three-year Action Plan for Archaeological Work at Sanxingdui Site (2019 2022)", taking settlement archaeology and social archaeology as the main work and research direction of Sanxingdui Site in the next few years, directly promoting Sanxingdui The start of archaeological excavations in the sacrificial area.

Bronze sacred tree, unearthed in 1986 at No. 2 Sacrificial Pit of Sanxingdui Site.

Photo courtesy of Sanxingdui Museum

  From October 22, 2019 to August 8, 2020, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Sanxingdui Museum carried out systematic and comprehensive archaeological exploration and archaeological excavations around the No. 1 and No. 2 sacrificial pits of the Sanxingdui site. The scope of the sacrificial area around the sacrificial pits of Qing No. 1 and No. 2 sacrificial pits and the chronological sequence and spatial pattern of various remains

Shenshu Hall of Sanxingdui Museum.

Photo courtesy of Sanxingdui Museum

  On September 5, 2020, the "Ancient Shu Civilization Protection and Inheritance Project · 2020 Sanxingdui Site Archaeological Excavation and Research Consultation Conference" was held in Guanghan, Sichuan. Well-known experts from both inside and outside Sichuan Province offered their opinions and suggestions for the upcoming new project at Sanxingdui Site. The round of archaeological excavations provided intellectual support.

Sanxingdui Museum-Bronze Pavilion.

Photo courtesy of Sanxingdui Museum

  It is reported that settlement archaeology and social archaeology are the main directions of archaeological development related to the Sanxingdui site in the next step.

“It takes many generations of archaeologists to work together to restore the original appearance of the Sanxingdui city site.” Lei Yu said, just as there are many prefecture-level cities and county-level cities around Chengdu, there must be several cities and settlements of different levels surrounding the Sanxingdui site. , Is a very complex social structure, so settlement archeology is of great significance.

At the same time, by further studying the behavior and beliefs of the ancient Shu people and ethnic groups through social archaeology, many things can be unearthed from the spiritual level, which will help restore the original appearance of the ancient Shu, which has the coexistence of divine power and royal power, and is extremely religious.