Ancient Shu Civilization Behind Sanxingdui

　　In 1929, when a batch of jade tools flowed out of Guanghan, Sichuan, people began to tirelessly explore ancient Sichuan civilization.

Through the unremitting efforts of several generations of archaeologists, many important sites have been discovered, and a large number of precious cultural relics have been unearthed. The history of the ancient Shu Kingdom of "How dare the founding of the country" lamented by the poet Li Bai is gradually becoming clear.

　　At present, archaeologists have basically clarified the evolution of ancient Shu civilization, that is, Baodun culture represented by the prehistoric city site group of Chengdu Plain, to Sanxingdui culture represented by Sanxingdui site, and then to Chengdu Jinsha site as representative. The Jinsha Twelve Bridges culture, and finally the Warring States bronze culture represented by the ship coffins and single wooden coffin tombs in the commercial streets of Chengdu, until the Qin merged with Bashu in 316 BC, and the splendid ancient Shu civilization became an important part of the Chinese civilization.

It can be said that numerous archaeological discoveries have shown us the ancient Shu civilization that is as brilliant as stars and as bright as a bright moon.

　　Baodun Cultural Period

　　Since the 1990s, in order to explore the source of Sanxingdui culture, archaeologists have carried out large-scale archaeological investigations and excavations on the Chengdu Plain, and discovered Xinjin Baodun, Dujiangyan Mangcheng, Chongzhou Shuanghe and Zizhu, Pixian Ancient Town, and Wenjiang Fish The ruins of 8 prehistoric ancient cities such as Fushan and Dayi Gaoshan.

These ancient cities have tall walls, and some have large building sites. The production tools are mainly stone tools, and there are also a very small amount of jade. The pottery industry is developed. The pottery is composed of Jomon lace pottery, open circle foot statue, and bell mouth. High-necked tank, wide-edge flat statue, etc.

As the Baodun site is the most representative, it is named "Baodun Culture".

Baodun culture is still in the gestation period of civilization, which can also be said to be the dawn of civilization.

A large number of artifacts with the same characteristics as the Baodun culture were also found at the Sanxingdui site. Some experts believe that the Baodun culture gave birth to the glorious Sanxingdui culture.

　　Sanxingdui Cultural Period

　　The Sanxingdui culture was about 3700-3200 years ago, and it was the first peak of the ancient Shu civilization.

In addition to gold, bronze, jade, and ivory, stone tools were still used in this period.

The pottery is a combination of a small flat-bottomed pot, a spoon with a bird's head, and a high-handled bean.

What needs to be emphasized is that the 8 pits discovered in Sanxingdui all belong to the later period of Sanxingdui culture, dating back 3200-3000 years.

　　According to the archaeological excavation report of No. 1 and No. 2 pits, a total of more than 1,700 cultural relics were unearthed in the two pits. Except for the uniquely shaped cultural relics such as the bronze giant man, the bronze sacred tree, the golden mask, and the bronze head of the man, most of the unearthed relics are related to the Central Plains area. , The same or similar artifacts unearthed in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, such as bronze vessels Zun and Lei, jade ritual tools such as Zhang, Ge, and Bi among jade, and jade tools such as axes, adzes, and chisels.

It can be said that the Sanxingdui civilization is a unique archaeological culture that has gradually developed on the basis of the Baodun culture and integrated the cultures of the Central Plains and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

In this culture, religious sacrificial activities occupies an important position.

　　Jinsha Culture Period

　　About 3000 years ago, Sanxingdui was gradually abandoned and became a general settlement site.

The center of the ancient Shu civilization moved to the hinterland of the Chengdu Plain, thus entering a new stage of development represented by the Jinsha Site-the Jinsha Cultural Period, which was about 3200-2600 years ago.

　　Since the 1980s, archaeologists have discovered dozens of sites from the late Shang to the Western Zhou period, including the Fuqin Community and the Twelve Bridges, in the urban area of ​​Chengdu. Another glory of the Shu civilization.

Among these sites, the Jinsha site has the largest area and the highest level of unearthed cultural relics. It has become the center of these sites and is another political, economic, and cultural center after Sanxingdui.

Archaeologists discovered large palace sites, large cemeteries, and dedicated sacrificial areas at the Jinsha site. Pottery combinations include small flat-bottomed pots, ring-footed pots, pointed cups, and pointed bottom cups.

At the same time, a large number of cultural relics similar to or even the same as the Sanxingdui sacrifice pit were unearthed in the sacrifice area of ​​the Jinsha site. Except for the large-scale special bronzes, other artifacts such as jade, stone and gold are almost identical.

For example, the decorations on the Sanxingdui Golden Rod and the Golden Crown Belt are composed of human heads, arrows, birds, and fish. The golden masks, jade ge, jade Zhang, and collar-shaped artifacts found in the two places are highly in shape and style. Unanimous.

　　The Jinsha Site and the Sanxingdui Site have highly similar artifacts and burial methods. It can be seen from the religious beliefs, the layout of the city site and the time continuation that the Jinsha Culture directly inherits the essence of the Sanxingdui culture, and further develops on this basis.

The discovery of the Jinsha site has greatly expanded the connotation and extension of the ancient Shu culture, and is of great significance to the study of the origin, development, and decline of the Shu culture, especially for finding strong evidence for solving the mystery of the sudden demise of the Sanxingdui civilization.

　　Late Shu Culture

　　Around the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period (around 600 BC), the Jinsha Kingdom has gradually declined, and its central position may have shifted.

With the advent of a number of Warring States period tombs, such as the large-scale ship coffin burial in Chengdu Commercial Street, the Majia Tomb in Xindu, and Shuangyuan Village in Qingbaijiang, people have witnessed the renewed glory of the late Shu culture.

During this period, a large number of bronze weapons with common characteristics of the Bashu area were unearthed from the tombs discovered. These bronze weapons were mainly in the shape of Ge, sword, and spear. The inexplicable patterns injected new features into the late Shu culture.

In 316 BC, the Qin Dynasty merged with Bashu, and the Bashu culture was finally integrated into the Han culture during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the mid-Western Han Dynasty.

　　From the perspective of archaeology, we call the "Baodun Culture" the budding of Shu Culture; Sanxingdui Culture and Jinsha Culture are the two peak stages of early Shu cultural development, also known as Sanxingdui Cultural Period, Jinsha·Twelve Bridges Cultural period; while the tombs of the Warring States Period represented by the large-scale ship coffin burials in Chengdu Commercial Street, the Majia Tomb in Xindu, and Shuangyuan Village in Qingbaijiang belong to the late Shu culture.

These ancient cultural relics are like a starry sky, which together form a magnificent and magnificent social and historical picture of the ancient Shu civilization.

　　unsolved puzzle

　　What exactly is ivory used for?

　　A large number of ivory and ivory products were found in the Sanxingdui and Jinsha sites. The difference is that most of the ivory in Sanxingdui was burned, while the ivory in the Jinsha site was directly buried in the soil without being burned.

The difference between the two may reflect that people used ivory for different purposes in different periods.

However, it is not yet known for the specific purpose.

　　Why do masks appear frequently?

　　There are masks found in Sanxingdui and Jinsha, but from the perspective of usage, Sanxingdui uses masks more frequently and pays more attention.

What role did the mask play in the sacrifices of the ancient Shu Kingdom?

More research is still needed.

　　What does the bronze standing man hold in his hollow hands?

　　Sanxingdui and Jinsha each found a large and a small bronze standing man, and they all made the same gesture.

This similarity reflects the primitive religious beliefs or similar religious ritual norms shared by the two sites, and shows the close inheritance relationship between the two sites.

But what exactly are the hollow hands holding?

Or is it just a state of ritual?

It is also a big puzzle at the moment.

　　Does the ancient Shu civilization have words?

　　Although we found obvious markings on the artifacts unearthed in Sanxingdui, they were only found sporadically.

At the Jinsha site, despite the unearthed Bojia, no obvious signs of marking have been found.

Therefore, no matter whether it is the Sanxingdui site or the Jinsha site, we have not yet found definitive evidence of writing. Whether the ancient Shu civilization has used writing has yet to be further explored.

　　Whether it is the Sanxingdui site or the Jinsha site, the ancient Shu civilization has brought us huge surprises, enough to make us marvel at the wisdom of the ancients, and it also left us with countless mysteries.

I believe that with the development of a new round of archaeological work in Sanxingdui, more clues of ancient Shu civilization will be revealed one by one, breaking through the fogs that linger in front of ancient Shu civilization.

　　(Author's unit: Chengdu Jinsha Site Museum)

　　Layout design: Cai Huawei