Sanxingdui - Bronze Age Culture

After our visit to the Pandas with Ed and Nancy we went to the Sanxingdui museum. This ancient Bronze Age culture was just discovered in 1986.

These bronze artifacts date back to the 16th century B.C. That makes them about 3700 years old!

This is a sort of bronze tree.

Here is a close up of one of the arms. The Sanxingdui artistic style was previously unknown in China and has forced scholars to rethink the history of China.

This is a bronze vessel of sorts.

This is a jade dagger or spear point.

In 1926, a farmer digging a well found a cache of jade artifacts many of which ended up in collector's hands. Archaeologists searched for decades for additional items until a burial pit was found in 1986.

Many of these ceremonial figures have protruding eyes.

This figure is about 5 ft high. Some people think that the masks suggest eye worship.

This is the back side of the mask above. Casting items this size is pretty impressive technology for the time.

This figure is quite tall. It is believed that it held an ivory tusk.

Some sort of animal hat?

Click on this picture to get a better look at the detail.

Some historians consider the Sanxingdui discovery more important than the Terracotta Warriors.

Click to enlarge for details.

The first burial pit had a large amount of earthen ware. Much of it was damaged, perhaps ceremonially, when buried.

This is a pitcher and bottles.

Here is more info from Wikipedia --> Sanxingdui

Here are links our other Chengdu adventures in case you missed any.

Leshan Giant Buddha
Culture Show and Chairman Mao
Panda Research and Breeding Center