Sanxingdui (三星堆, Three Star Mounds) - Beyond Comprehension

I have always been mystified by its discovery and mentioned it in my book “Knowing Your Roots: In the wake of the new Xiong-Nus at China’s gate”. To me, the artefacts found were totally outlandish to the China we understand for that period.  

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to be in Chengdu and thought I should pay the museum a visit.

The very impressive Sanxingdui Museum at Guanghan (广汉), just outside Chengdu, was only opened last year. (Apparently, there was an old museum near the excavation site before this.)

     

This is how the discovery was made: In 1927 a farmer while dredging an irrigation ditch in a village north of Chengdu unearthed a large stash of jade relics. However, it was not until 1934 that a regional university organised an archaeological excavation of the site. Nonetheless, the bulk of the discoveries came much later – in 1986 when thousands of gold, bronze, jade and pottery artifacts were unearthed from two pits 20-30 metres apart.  

Intricate bronzes (masks, heads, statuettes, trees, birds, bells, axes and “hybrid” animals), gold objects (tables, masks, and belts), jades (axes, tablets, rings, knives and tubes), elephant tusks, pottery, and cowrie shells were uncovered. One bronze statue featuring a figure with a slender waist, elegant robes, and giant, grasping hands stood 2.6m high in total. The bronze masks, heads, statues, trees and “hybrid” animals discovered in the pits were unparalleled in China, and indeed anywhere else. It seemed that this artistry, completely unknown in the history of Chinese art, was expressing a unique view of the world that had developed in the Sichuan basin of the Yangtze River, which was then a remote region ringed by high mountains.

Clockwise from top: Jade blade (54cm); Bronze head (27cm); Bronze tree (396cm); gold mask; and hollow inside figure 2.62m)

Six more pits were discovered at the same site between 2020 and 2022 during renewed excavations. More than 500 relics, including a gold mask, were discovered. The mask is estimated to be made from 84% gold and weighs 280 grams (0.6 pounds).  

Archaeologists have dated the relics to be between 3,100 and 4,500 years ago, roughly corresponding to the late Xia and early Western Zhou periods, with largely Shang in between. 

The masks and heads show angular human features, exaggerated almond-shaped eyes – some with protruding pupils – and large upper ears.

There were also traces of paint smears – black and vermillion – on them.

Many of them appear to be meant for ritual practices, however, they do not seem to conform to those understood during the period.

Researchers speculated that the human sculptures, in ceremonial costume and possibly including a mask, were meant to commemorate a dead ancestor to whom sacrifice was being offered.

Since these four animals – birds, dragons, snakes, and tigers – predominate the finds at Sanxingdui, the bronzes might represent the universe. It is unclear whether they formed part of ritual events designed to communicate with the spirits of the universe (or ancestral spirits). As no written records remain it is difficult to determine the intended uses of objects found. Some believe that the continued prevalence of depictions of these animals, especially in the later Han period, was an attempt by humans to "fit into" their understanding of their cosmology.

And Sichuan was certainly not a place where elephants or mammoths could be roaming at that time; neither was it where cowrie shells could be found too.

And why are these things clustered in a relatively small area. And most significantly, despite the fact that their craftsmanship – intricate in details and forms – was far superior to that of the Shang’s, they did not seem to have any form of writing, when Shang has always been credited with the dawn of Chinese written characters.

This “prehistoric” settlement was abandoned around 1000 BC and many of the artefacts appeared to have been deliberately smashed or burnt before being buried. And no human or settlement remains were found at or near the sites.

Nonetheless, the finds do include jade artifacts that are consistent with earlier neolithic cultures in China (the Baodun culture, 宝墩文化,2700–1700 BCE).

Did they belong to Ancient Shu (古蜀, Gǔ Shǔ)?

The visit of the museum did not shed much light about its origin. I decided to pick up a book that was sold in the souvenir shop there. The author was apparently trying hard to fit the Sanxingdui culture into the legends of the ancient kingdom of Shu – its possible lineage to the tribal chiefs during the early days of the Chinese civilisation. The book does make interesting reading, but it is short on facts.

To me, this Sanxingdui culture must have predated Ancient Shu, which was conquered by Qin (秦)in 316 BCE.  蜀 evolved from , which is a character composite of 目 (eye), 人 (human) and 虫 (worm). The importance of silkworm to the fortune and symbol of the kingdom could not be understated. Historical records are scant about this kingdom. The kingdom is mentioned in Shi-ji (史記) and Shu-jing (書經)as an ally of the Zhou who defeated the Shang. The Shu kingdom is said to be founded by Cancong (蠶叢) – one who had protruding eyes, a feature that is found in many of the masks and figures of Sanxingdui. 

The Contemporary Shang
Let’s see the parallels in the Shang (商)dynasty (sometimes called Yin (殷) dynasty), ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dynasty. Modern scholarship dates the dynasty between the 16th and 11th centuries BC.

               Above are a Shang nephrite statuette (apparently housed at Harvard University) and a Shang jade human figure. Do they look like those of Sanxingdui’s?

Compared to what you see in Sanxingdui, they are many classes below.

Conclusion
There are many speculations about Sanxingdui’s origin. Some argue that they were from an extraterrestrial culture; others relate them to the legends described in Shanhai-jing (山海经, a Chinese classic of mythic geography and beasts.) I have a different take. Maybe they were the valuables and treasures left behind by an advanced migratory tribe who had to flee the Shang in a hurry? Jew-like people looking for a homeland and chased out after some years?.

The Shang practised human sacrifice, and they were Shang’s genocidal trophies. (The majority of victims were war captives taken the minority tribes.)

Sanxingdui must rank one of the great discoveries and mysteries in modern China. It is indeed necessary for China to do a complete rethink of its prehistory.

One for the album!

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