Bronze sacred tree No. 1 on display at the Sanxingdui Museum.
Artifacts do not speak, but have their own spring and autumn. Hailed as one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century, the Sanxingdui site has unearthed many peculiar artifacts that challenge atheism and have recently aroused public debate. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who also visited Sanxingdui recently, said three “good” things about the archaeological work there.
The Sanxingdui site is located on the south bank of the Yuzi River, northwest of Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, and covers an area of about 12 square kilometers. On April 19, Li Keqiang came to visit the archaeological excavation site of Sanxingdui, according to the Chinese government website.
After listening to the person in charge of the site, Li Keqiang said that the purpose of examining the cultural roots is to make a new one, as Chinese civilization stretches for thousands of years, and through archaeology, the accumulated excellent culture will continue to flourish.
He also stressed the need to “excavate, protect and study” the rich historical and cultural heritage of the Sanxingdui site.
Bronze vertical-eyed portrait of Sanxingdui.
Bronze portrait and gold mask become an unsolved mystery
“In the spring of 1929, the father and son of farmer Yan Daocheng found a large number of jade artifacts while dredging a stream, thus unveiling the mystery of Sanxingdui.
Since the first archaeological excavation of Sanxingdui in 1934, 37 archaeological excavations have been carried out. The six newly discovered “burial pits” of Sanxingdui culture have unearthed more than 500 pieces of important cultural relics such as gold mask fragments, giant bronze masks, bird-shaped gold ornaments, bronze sacred trees, fine tooth carving fragments, and more national treasures are waiting to see the light of day.
Dome gold-faced bronze statue of a man.
The Sichuan basin, where Sanxingdui is located, is linked to the civilization of the Central Plains and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the east, and to Central Asia and West Asia in the west through the Hexi Corridor and the Silk Road. Chinese archaeologists believe that the new archaeological discovery of Sanxingdui is an important testimony to the pluralistic and integrated pattern of Chinese civilization.
The Sanxingdui civilization was at 30 degrees north latitude, an area known as the most mysterious latitude in the world, and many unsolved mysteries, mysterious events, and paranormal phenomena occurred near this area.
The cultural relics excavated at Sanxingdui are strange and mysterious, with high level of craftsmanship. These relics, which are 3000 to 5000 years old, some of which are difficult to realize even in modern times, can be said to have subverted the modern view of history.
For example, the “Bronze Longitudinal Eye Statue” has a very exaggerated shape, with a pair of eyes that protrude outward in a cylindrical shape, and the protruding part is 16 cm long. The two ears are also unusually large, and the corners of the figure’s mouth are raised, with a mysterious and eerie smile on his face. Some people say that this statue represents a mythical god with “clairvoyant eyes and smooth ears”.
Bronze vertical-eyed statue of a man.
The Bronze Standing Man, unearthed in 1986 from the second sacrificial pit of Sanxingdui, is a thin and tall bronze standing man with a very different appearance from the Chinese civilization, wearing a tuxedo-like robe and standing on a tall base with bare feet. The overall height of the statue is 2.62 meters, of which the bronze figure is 1.70 meters tall. This is the oldest, strangest, most mysterious and tallest bronze statue ever found in the history of the world, and is known as the “King of Bronze Statues”.
Bronze statue of a large standing man.
Big eyes, big nose, wide mouth, long ears is the basic appearance of the bronze statue of Sanxingdui, which is very different from the normal human appearance. People can’t help but speculate, could it be that thousands of years ago on the Chinese land, there really is this kind of strange-looking “alien” living in the world?
The newly discovered half gold mask, and the previously unearthed gold scepter are very exquisite workmanship. However, more than 3,000 years ago, Sichuan not only had no gold mining technology, but also no gold smelting technology.
The newly discovered half gold mask. (Video screenshot)
As we all know, the melting point of gold is as high as 1,064℃, while ordinary charcoal usually burns at about 900℃, which can only melt bronze, not gold. So where did this gold come from and how was it made into artifacts? These are all mysteries.
Sanxingdui discovered the mythical “Fusang tree”
The Sanxingdui site had an amazing discovery in 1986, when more than 1,700 pieces of bronze and jade artifacts were unearthed. The high level of craftsmanship and the civilization displayed by these artifacts posed no small challenge to people’s notion of atheism. Officials of the Chinese Communist Party immediately stopped the excavation, and only after 35 years, on March 20 of this year, they restarted the excavation work of the Sanxingdui on a large scale.
The outside world noticed that the No. 3 bronze sacred tree, which was unveiled for the first time recently, has three main trunks in a twist shape above the bronze tree base, rotating and growing upwards, with the bronze branches on the trunks stretching to one side. At the top of the tree, three human-headed, bird-bodied idols stand, with their tails stretched out and tail plumes high.
At the top of the tree, three statues of human-headed birds stand, with their tails stretched out and their tail plumes high. (Video screenshot)
On top of the bronze tree base of Bronze Tree No. 3, the three main trunks form a twist and grow upward in a rotating pattern. (Video screenshot)
The human-faced, bird-bodied deity on the bronze sacred tree is recorded in the Shanhaijing, and in the Overseas Eastern Classic, “Jumang in the East, with a bird body and human face, rides two dragons.” Jumang is the god of spring and is in charge of the rooting and sprouting of trees. According to some ancient pre-Qin texts, the area from the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun was under the charge of Jumang.
The bronze sacred tree No. 3, which is about 1.1 meters tall, was unearthed 35 years ago and experts are now starting restoration work on it. According to the archaeologists involved in the excavation, the shape of the tree is very much in line with the “Fusang tree” in which the sun resides in ancient mythology.
It is written in the “Shanhaijing – Great Desolation East” that “there are Fusang trees on the Tang Valley, one is said to be square to, the other is said to be square out, all are carried in Wu.” According to historical records, the Han Dynasty literary scholar Dongfang Shuo described the Fusang tree in “Records of the Ten Continents within the Sea” in this way: “The tree is named Fusang because it grows from the same root and is more dependent on each other.”
The No.1 bronze sacred tree, which has been exhibited in the Sanxingdui Museum many years ago, is the treasure of the town. This 3.96-meter-tall No. 1 bronze tree is also very similar to the Fusang tree.
The No. 1 Bronze Tree is one of the town treasures of the Sanxingdui Museum.
The No. 1 Bronze Tree consists of a tree base and a trunk, and is divided into three layers, each with three branches, making a total of nine branches, each with a sacred bird standing on it. Each branch has a sacred bird standing on it. There are nine sacred birds on nine branches. There is also an upside-down dragon on the trunk of the tree, as if descending from the sky. The topmost part of the tree is broken and incomplete, and people guess that it may also be the shape of a sacred bird.
According to the “Shanhaijing-Overseas East Classic”, “there is Fusang on Tanggu, the tenth day of the bath, in the north of Mochi, living in the water, there is a large wood, nine days in the lower branch, one day in the upper branch.”
It means that there is a Fusang tree growing in Tanggu, ten suns are perched on this tree, one sun is just coming back, another sun is getting up and going out, ten suns are carried by the Golden Crow.
The bronze sacred tree unearthed in Sanxingdui reminds people that the mythological stories described in the Shanhaijing may not be the so-called legends, but perhaps they are really something that existed in history, which is why these artifacts are preserved.
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