Master Archaeologist

"After restarting the archaeological excavation work in Sanxingdui this year, six new sacrificial pits were discovered in Sanxingdui."

"Now we are dispatching elite archaeologists from all over the country to Sanxingdui to carry out archaeological excavations."

"It is worth mentioning that the Sanxingdui archaeological project restarted this time uses a lot of high-tech equipment and is a scientific and technological archaeological project."

"This stuff is something you young people are better at."

"Otherwise, Xiao Chen will be led by you this time, on behalf of the Institute of Archeology of our Academy of Social Sciences, to Sanxingdui for support?"

Kong Jianwen said to Chen Han with a smile.

The Sanxingdui Site is 40 kilometers south of Chengdu, the capital of SC Province, and 7 kilometers east of Guanghan City. It is a huge site group composed of many ancient cultural relics.

At present, archaeologists divide the cultural remains of the site group into four periods.

The first phase is the early accumulation, which belongs to the late Neolithic culture, and the second to fourth phases belong to the bronze culture.

The age of the ruins ranges from the late Neolithic period to the end of the Shang Dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, and lasts for nearly 2000 years.

With four cultural layers and covering an area of ​​12 square kilometers, the Sanxingdui site group is huge in scale and wide in scope.

At present, more than 30 ancient cultural relics have been identified, including "Sanxingdui" in the south, "Moon Bay" and "Zhenwu Palace" in the middle, "Xiquankan" in the north, "Shiziyan" in the east, and "Wangliangzi", and the "Rensheng Village" and "Dayan Village" extending westward are the most important sites.

After several decades of archaeological excavations, a large number of pottery, stone, jade, bronze and gold wares have been unearthed, which have distinct local cultural characteristics and form a cultural system of its own.

At present, it can be determined that Sanxingdui should be the source of the ancient Shu culture that originated in the Sichuan Basin.

As the largest capital ruins with regional central status.

Its discovery provides unique evidence for the vanished ancient Shu Kingdom, pushing the history of civilization in the Sichuan area forward for more than 2000 years!

From July to September 1986, two large Shang Dynasty sacrificial pits were excavated, and nearly a thousand pieces of precious cultural relics such as gold, copper, jade, stone, pottery, shellfish, and bones were unearthed.

For a long time afterwards, the archeology of Sanxingdui was carried out around these two large Shang Dynasty priest pits.

Until last year, Sanxingdui restarted new excavation work again, and discovered six large sacrificial pits again.

To be precise, it is not a new discovery, but a new excavation!
These sacrificial pits have already been explored before.

Just because the previous two large-scale sacrificial pits in the Shang Dynasty have been in the follow-up research stage, and the research has not been thorough yet, so there is no rush to open new pits.

It was not until this year that a new pit was prepared.

For the time being, the excavation of sacrificial pits No. [-] and No. [-] should be started!

The discovery of the Sanxingdui ruins is of great significance to the source of Chinese culture!

Because the discovery of the Sanxingdui site is quite different from the long-term understanding of the Bashu culture in the historical circles, and some places are even completely different.

Historians have always believed that, compared with the Central Plains, the ancient Bashu region was a relatively closed place, with no connection or little contact with the Central Plains civilization.

...

The Sanxingdui site proves that it should be an important cultural center around the Huaxia Xia Shang period, or even earlier, and has a certain connection with the Central Plains culture.

It verified the authenticity of the records of the ancient Shu Kingdom in ancient documents.

In the past, historians believed that the birthplace of the Chinese nation was the Yellow River Basin, and then gradually spread to the whole of China.

For a long time, we Chinese people have believed that the Yellow River is the mother river of Chinese civilization, and the birthplace of all Chinese civilizations started from the Yellow River Basin.

The Yangtze River Basin was conquered by the culture of the Yellow River Basin when it expanded southward.

During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the Chinese civilization almost entered the Yangtze River Basin.

It was not until the Han Dynasty that the Lingnan area south of the Yangtze River entered the control area of ​​Huaxia culture.

Historians at the time believed that the development of Chinese culture expanded gradually from north to south.

The discovery of Sanxingdui pushed the history of the ancient Shu Kingdom back to 5000 years ago, proving that the Yangtze River Basin, like the Yellow River Basin, is the birthplace of the Chinese nation, and that there was an ancient civilization in the Yangtze River Basin no less than that in the Yellow River Basin.

The discovery of the ancient city of Liangzhu proved once again that Huaxia culture did not gradually expand from the Yellow River Basin to the north.

Instead, one south and one north, both the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin have parallel Chinese cultures. In the end, the Chinese cultures of the two river basins blended and merged with each other to form the current Chinese civilization!
In other words, not only the Yellow River, but the Yangtze River is also the birthplace of Chinese civilization. Chinese civilization develops in duality, not in unity!
The bronze wares unearthed from the two sacrificial pits in Sanxingdui, except for the bronze vessels that have the style of the Yin Shang culture in the Central Plains and the bronze culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the types and shapes of the rest of the wares have extremely strong local characteristics.

This shows that when the culture of the Central Plains was in the Shang Dynasty, Shu already had a mature local culture.

This local culture has not only been in contact with and blended with Shang and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, but also has a very strong civilization itself.

The bronze civilization of Shu State is not only highly developed, but also has a unique appearance!

The earliest and tallest bronze sacred tree in the world. It is 384 cm high. It has three clusters of branches, each with three branches, nine in total. There are 27 fruits and nine birds on it. There is a dragon edge tree meandering down on the side of the tree. It is inferred that it may be ancient. Hibiscus tree in myths and legends.

The earliest gold rod in the world is 142 centimeters long, 2.3 centimeters in diameter, and weighs more than 700 grams. It has carved human heads, fish and birds.

The largest and most complete bronze standing statue in the world is 262 centimeters high and weighs more than 180 kilograms. It is known as the king of bronze statues.

The world's largest bronze portrait with vertical eyes is 64.5 cm high and the distance between the ears is 138.5 cm.

There are more than 50 bronze human heads and masks unearthed at one time in the world.

These are world-class heavy archaeological relics unearthed in Sanxingdui!

Moreover, these cultural relics are all independent in the area of ​​the ancient Shu Kingdom, and their own styles and cultures were not developed under the influence of the Xia, Shang or even the Liangzhu culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River!

Before the discovery of the Sanxingdui site, the word "Shu" was first discovered in the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty.

According to records, when King Wu defeated Zhou, the people of Shu helped each other.

However, the history of Shu has not been recorded in detail in the pre-Qin literature.

The history and legends about the Shu Kingdom were not recorded until the "Huayang Guozhi·Shu Zhi" written by Chang Chu in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

The most famous poem about the history of Shu is written by Li Bai in "The Road to Shu": "Cancong and Yufu, how at a loss was the founding of the country! You are [-] years old, and you are not inhabited by Qin Sai. Xidang Taibai There is a bird path, which can cross the Emei peak. The earth collapses and destroys the strong men to death, and then the heavenly ladder and stone stacks are connected."

In other words, in the culture of the Central Plains, the recorded "Shu Kingdom" can only be traced back to the middle and late Shang Dynasty at the earliest.

The discovery of Sanxingdui completely overturned the Chinese people's understanding of "Shu Kingdom".

The "Shu Kingdom" in the middle and late Shang Dynasty was already a late culture in the Sanxingdui culture.

The demise of Sanxingdui culture was almost at the end of the Shang Dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty.

The "Shu people" in the pre-Qin period were the descendants of the Shu land who inherited the Sanxingdui culture after the Sanxingdui culture perished!

The real "Ancient Shu Kingdom" was concealed under the fourth phase of culture at the Sanxingdui site, and is waiting for future generations to unveil their veil!
Master Archaeologist