[Explanation] On June 13, a news briefing on the phased results of archaeological excavations at the Sanxingdui site was held in Guanghan, Sichuan.
It is reported that at present, the archaeological excavation of the newly discovered 6 sacrificial pits at the Sanxingdui site has entered the final stage. A total of nearly 13,000 numbered cultural relics have been unearthed from the 6 pits, including 3,155 relatively complete cultural relics.
Except for pits 5 and 6, which are later in age, the sacrificial pits 3, 4, 7, and 8 are buried in the same age, which is in the late Shang Dynasty.
Archaeologists also newly discovered small sacrificial pit groups and building foundations in the sacrificial area.
[Concurrent] Ran Honglin, Director of Sanxingdui Institute of Archaeology, Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
The entire excavation work has unearthed 3,155 relatively complete artifacts so far. Among them, there are more than 1,200 copper artifacts, and more than 500 gold artifacts, jade artifacts and ivory, so the overall volume is still very large. What's more, we haven't fully extracted the No. 7 and No. 8 pits, so there should be a big increase in this number in the future.
[Explanation] It is reported that so far, the excavation of No. 3 and 4 sacrificial pits has been completed, No. 5 and 6 sacrificial pits have been cut and moved to the Cultural Protection Center for laboratory archaeology, and No. 7 and 8 pits are undergoing archaeological excavations.
According to Ran Honglin, from 2020 to 2022, through archaeological exploration, the plane distribution of the sacrificial area at the Sanxingdui site has been roughly clarified.
[Concurrent] Ran Honglin, Director of Sanxingdui Institute of Archaeology, Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
The shape is roughly an area of about 13,000 square meters running from northwest to southeast.
During the excavation process in 2021 and 2022, we will further clarify the distribution scope of the sacrificial area.
For example, its eastern boundary, through archaeological excavations, we have determined that this boundary is relatively clear, and its southern boundary is also the same.
[Explanation] In addition, Ran Honglin revealed that during the excavation, archaeologists also found a building relic of more than 80 square meters in the sacrificial area of the Sanxingdui site.
[Concurrent] Ran Honglin, Director of Sanxingdui Institute of Archaeology, Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
In fact, the single building area of this building is not particularly large, only more than 80 square meters, but its construction technology is very complex, it should be said that it is not a construction technology that ordinary buildings can achieve.
And we also found this small building with the same shape and construction process around it.
Therefore, our preliminary guess is that the small buildings and the small buildings next to them together form a large building complex, which is somewhat similar to a relatively common building and a large palace complex in the Central Plains.
[Explanation] In addition, more than ten rectangular grooves, small circular or rectangular sacrificial pits were also found in the sacrificial area, and gold utensils, collared copper pots, kneeling stone tigers, kneeling stone figures, stone cong, etc. were found in them. precious relics.
At present, archaeologists are still continuing to explore and excavate, trying to find the boundary of the sacrificial area and confirm its size, so as to help explore the formation process of the ancient Shu capital and the functional division of the capital.
Reported by Yang Yudi from Guanghan, Sichuan
Responsible editor: [Luo Pan]