China News Service, Chengdu, March 20 (Reporter Yue Yitong He Shao Qing Yao Xinyu) "Sleep for thousands of years, wake up and shake the world." Speaking of the Sanxingdui site in Guanghan, Sichuan, the world commented.
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 ancient city, ancient country, and ancient Shu cultural site with the largest range, the longest duration, and the richest cultural connotations discovered in southwest China.
In 1986, the No. 1 and No. 2 "sacrifice pits" were discovered, and more than a thousand precious cultural relics such as bronze statues, bronze statues, bronze sacred trees, golden masks, golden rods, large jade Zhang, and ivory were unearthed. Kind of a new face of bronze culture.
In 1987, archaeologists proposed the name "Sanxingdui Culture", inferring that the age is equivalent to the period from the late Xia Dynasty to the Shang and Zhou Dynasties.
Schematic diagram of the distribution of sacrificial pits.
Photo courtesy of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
More than 500 cultural relics unearthed from 6 sacrificial pits newly discovered at Sanxingdui site
In 2020, after a lapse of 34 years, the Sanxingdui site will start the excavation of the sacrificial pit again.
On March 20, 2021, the "Archaeological China" major project progress meeting will be held in Chengdu.
It is understood that archaeologists discovered 6 new "sacrifice pits" of the Sanxingdui culture from November 2019 to May 2020.
The plane of the "sacrifice pit" is rectangular, and the scale is between 3.5 square meters and 19 square meters.
At present, pits 3, 4, 5, and 6 have been excavated to the artifact level, and pits 7 and 8 are being excavated to fill the pits. Remnants of gold masks, bird-shaped gold ornaments, gold leaf, and painted copper heads have been unearthed. There are more than 500 important cultural relics such as giant bronze masks, bronze sacred trees, ivory, exquisite tooth carvings, jade congs, and jade tools.
Golden mask.
Photo courtesy of the official public account of Sanxingdui Museum
Among them, the half mysterious golden mask found is quite eye-catching.
According to Lei Yu, director of the Sanxingdui Site Workstation, the weight of the half of the golden mask discovered so far is about 280g, and the total weight is expected to exceed 500g, which is more than the heaviest gold artifact in the Shang Dynasty unearthed in China, the Sanxingdui Golden Stick ( The weight of 463 grams) is even heavier. If it can be found in its entirety, this golden mask will surpass the golden rod and become the heaviest gold object of the same period found in China.
The artifacts in Pit No. 3 are outcropped.
Photo courtesy of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
It is understood that the width of the half golden mask found is about 23 cm, the height is about 28 cm, and the square face, big hollow eyes, triangular nose bridge, wide ears... the style of this golden mask is also similar to the previous unearthed cultural relics in Sanxingdui. The styles are very similar.
The golden mask discovered this time adds a great demonstration to the worship of gold in the ancient Shu civilization.
At the same time, it brought many secrets waiting to be revealed.
Ivory sculptures were unearthed from Pit No. 5.
Photo courtesy of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Fragment of ivory carving in Pit No. 5.
Photo courtesy of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Re-excavation of the sacrificial pit is high in scientific and technological archaeology
"Compared with the excavation of No. 1 and No. 2 sacrificial pits in 1986, we made sufficient preliminary preparations for this excavation." Lei Yu said, 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.
Location map of the sacrificial pits in the sacrificial area of the Sanxingdui site.
Photo courtesy of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Taking the silk found in Sacrificial Pit No. 4 as an example, experts used enzyme-linked immunoassay technology to detect the presence of silk protein in the ashes, indicating that silk once existed in the sacrificial pit.
"It is impossible to identify with the naked eye." Lei Yu said, the fillings in the sacrificial pits 3 to 8 are packed and sampled, and analysis and research on them may reveal more surprises.
At the same time, the excavation also formed a dedicated team of experts, adhering to the concept of "project presetting, protection synchronization, multi-disciplinary integration, and multi-team cooperation", coordinating the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking University, and Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology A number of domestic scientific research institutions and universities participated in the formation of a joint archaeological, conservation and research team.
Gold objects were unearthed from the surface of Pit No.4.
Photo courtesy of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Archaeologists make full use of modern scientific and technological means to build archaeological excavation cabins, integrated excavation platforms, and multi-functional excavation operating systems. With the support of a multidisciplinary and multi-institution professional team, they constitute traditional archaeology, laboratory archaeology, scientific and technological archaeology, and cultural relics. The working mode of deep integration of protection realizes the combination of archaeological excavation, systematic scientific research and timely and effective protection of the site, ensuring the high quality and high level of archaeological work.
Protect the platform analysis and testing room.
Photo courtesy of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Lei Yu said that in the next few years, the energy of archaeologists will be mainly invested in the excavation and research of the six newly discovered "sacrifice pits", including the sorting of archaeological materials, the restoration of artifacts, etc., and further exploration work. So as to master the scope and spatial pattern of the sacrificial area.
At the same time, related work will be carried out around the research of Sanxingdui city site.
How was the Sanxingdui site discovered?
The discovery and excavation process of the Sanxingdui site is known as the story of one hoe and two pits.
In 1929 (some experts think it was 1927 or 1931), when Sichuan farmer Yan Daocheng was working, he went down with a hoe and accidentally found a pit of jade, including Shibi, Jade Zhang, Jade Cong, Yugui, etc. There are more than 400 jade tools such as jade circle, jade beads, jade axe and stone spear.
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.
Excavation cabin.
Photo courtesy of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
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.
Scene of cultural relics unearthed in Pit No.4.
Photo courtesy of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
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 also found at the bottom.
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.
Scenes of cultural relics unearthed in Pit 5.
Photo courtesy of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
In 1997, Sanxingdui Museum was also built in the northeast corner of the site area and became one of the well-known cultural attractions in Sichuan.
At present, more recent excavations from the Sanxingdui Sacrificial Pit are yet to be made public. Are you looking forward to it?