"Moonlight treasure box", bronze pig nose dragon shaped ware, bronze figure with snake body on the top, and bronze head with gold mask... On the 13th, Sichuan Academy of cultural relics and Archaeology announced the latest archaeological achievements of Sanxingdui site since September last year in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province. Several "Shangxin" cultural relics with unique shapes enriched the bronze categories of Sanxingdui site, showing richer types and cultural connotations, reflecting the diversity and richness of Chinese civilization, It also witnessed the early exchange and integration of civilizations in various regions of the land of China, adding new physical evidence for the pluralistic integration of Chinese civilization. Since 2020, the Sichuan Institute of cultural relics and archaeology, Peking University, Sichuan University and other scientific research institutions and universities have formed a joint archaeological team to excavate in the Sanxingdui sacrifice area. Next to the No. 1 and No. 2 "sacrifice pits" discovered in 1986, six "sacrifice pits" from No. 3 to No. 8 about 3000 years ago have been discovered and excavated. Up to now, nearly 13000 numbered cultural relics have been unearthed in the six "sacrificial pits", including 3155 relatively complete cultural relics. Unprecedented "artifact" Walking into the Sanxingdui archaeological greenhouse, the reporter saw that the field excavation of No. 3 and No. 4 "sacrificial pits" had been completed, No. 5 and No. 6 "sacrificial pits" had entered the stage of laboratory archaeology, and the indoor cleaning of buried cultural relics was being carried out. The important cultural relics announced this time were mainly concentrated in No. 7 and No. 8 "sacrificial pits". Standing next to the No. 7 "sacrificial pit", you can see a "dazzling array" of green. Lihaichao, Professor of the school of archaeology, culture and Museum of Sichuan University, who was responsible for the excavation of the No. 7 "sacrificial pit", said that the No. 7 "sacrificial pit" was characterized by a large number of jades and small bronzes. Jade wares include bundles of long jade chisels, three hole jade Bi shaped wares, jade axes, jade yuan, etc. Although small, the bronze wares, such as the bronze top Zhang dragon ornament, the bronze Liren and the bronze bell, are exquisite. One of them is a bronze Phoenix less than 10cm long, with distinct tail feathers and roots. It is a masterpiece reflecting the superb casting skills of the ancients. Among so many small pieces of cultural relics, an oval grid shaped cultural relic is particularly conspicuous. This is the turtle back shaped grid shaped object of the "treasure of the pit" of the No. 7 "sacrificial pit", which Li Haichao calls the "Moonlight treasure box". "It's very shocking. There were no such artifacts in the past. This is an unprecedented discovery." Lihaichao told the reporter that there were traces of silk on this cultural relic. The outer layer was a turtle back shaped grid bronze ware symmetrical from top to bottom. One side was similar to a hinge. It was also attached with four bronze faucet handles and twoorthree bronze streamers. The most amazing thing was that the bronze ware also contained a piece of turquoise jade of the same size and shape, which was equivalent to a beautiful jade in a delicate copper box wrapped in silk. In the archaeological shelter, No. 8 "sacrificial pit", which is separated from No. 7 "sacrificial pit", is characterized by a large number of bronze wares. At present, nearly 70 typical bronze human heads have been found in Sanxingdui, more than the number of "sacrificial pits" 1 and 2 found in 1986. In addition to the Bronze Dragon announced earlier this year, archaeologists have also found a bronze head with a gold mask, a bronze man with a snake body on top, a sophisticated copper altar, a copper giant beast like a "robot dog", a copper standing figure with a "wrapped skirt and shoulder and a big back head", a copper pig nose dragon, a copper standing figure with ivory, a bronze Temple shaped cover, a stone chime, etc. among them, several pieces of bronze ware with strange shapes have been found for the first time in the history of archaeology. In the eyes of zhaohao, the person in charge of the excavation of No. 8 "sacrificial pit" and an associate professor of the school of archaeology, culture and Museum of Peking University, the bronze altar is undoubtedly very important. "It is not just a single utensil, but more importantly, it depicts a sacrificial scene, representing the understanding of the Sanxingdui people on the world." Zhaohao said. This cultural relic was discovered last year. After months of careful cleaning, its complex and exquisite structure was revealed. The bronze altar is divided into three parts from low to high. At the bottom is a platform with hollowed out patterns. In the center of each side of the platform, there is a person sitting in the center, with five vertical locks of hair, wearing streamer colored clothes and cloud head shoes. There is also a group of tall "Luxi" kneeling down on a small platform engraved with patterns and working together to carry a small divine beast. A man in a skirt was also riding on the back of the little beast. The neck of the little beast was tied with a rope made of three strands of copper wire, and a small exquisite copper ring was buckled on the rope. "The newly discovered artifacts in the 'sacrificial pit' on No. 7 and No. 8 have enriched the bronze categories of Sanxingdui site, showing a richer variety and cultural connotation, reflecting the diversity and richness of Chinese civilization." Ranhonglin, director of Sanxingdui Archaeological Institute of Sichuan Academy of cultural relics and archaeology, said. Witness the pluralistic integration of Chinese civilization "Sleeping for threethousand years, waking up to startle the world", such exaggerated portraits, such strange cultural relics, a cultural relic unearthed from the No. 3 "sacrifice pit" was directly named "qiqiguai" by archaeologists. This makes many people puzzled. Where does Sanxingdui come from? After careful study of the newly unearthed cultural relics at Sanxingdui, archaeologists have determined that Sanxingdui site has close cultural ties with other regions in China, and Sanxingdui is an important member of Chinese civilization. Taking a newly discovered bronze figure with a snake body at the top in No. 8 "sacrificial pit" as an example, the whole cultural relic is divided into three parts. In the middle is a bronze figure with a snake body, protruding eyes and tusks, and wearing a horn mask. Its hands are supported on a bronze pendant with a square seat, and on its head is a Zhu Sha painted Gu shaped statue. Ranhonglin told the reporter: "bronze statues have the characteristics of ancient Shu civilization. Square bronze ware is the representative of pre Zhou culture, and respect is the representative of Central Plains culture. These three cultural factors are gathered on the same object, which vividly reflects that Sanxingdui is an important part of Chinese civilization." In addition, the bronze statues, copper chopsticks and copper ampoules found in the six "sacrificial pits" newly excavated in Sanxingdui are typical bronze wares of the Yin and Shang culture in the Central Plains. The jade Cong comes from the Qijia culture in Gansu and Qinghai regions. The Lingyu Bi, Yuzhang and Yuge have been found in Henan, Shaanxi, Shandong and the vast South China. A large number of gold wares are found in line with the ancient tradition of using gold wares in the half moon zone, while the sacred tree The kneeling figure of the top statue and a large number of dragon image artifacts show that the ancestors of Sanxingdui site are similar to the people in other parts of China in terms of spiritual beliefs. "The unique cultural relics of Sanxingdui are the perfect combination of the rich imagination of ancient Shu people and exquisite handicrafts. However, the inner world reflected in their imagination is still the harmonious concept of the Chinese civilization of 'the unity of heaven and man and the coexistence of all things', which is highly consistent with the imagination of other regional civilizations of China on the world." Ranhonglin said. In addition to the cultural relics visible to the naked eye, archaeologists have also discovered the "trace" of silk through modern scientific and technological means, filling the gap in the southwest where there were no silk objects during the Xia and Shang Dynasties. "The ancient Shu civilization represented by Sanxingdui is not only an important origin and component of the Chinese civilization, but also one of the most distinctive regional cultures in the ancient Chinese civilization community. In the process of the integration of the Chinese civilization, silk is a very significant convergence factor. Whether it is myths, legends, historical records or archaeological discoveries about silk, it shows that both Bashu and the Central Plains uphold roughly the same knowledge system and value system 。” Said Zhoumin, deputy curator of the China Silk Museum. A mystery to be solved While archaeological excavations are advancing rapidly, the protection and restoration of cultural relics and multidisciplinary research are also in full swing. It is understood that nearly 200 scholars from various fields, including archaeology, history, physics, chemistry, paleobiology, paleogeology and paleoenvironment, have participated in the on-site excavation, scientific and technological archaeology and cultural relics protection of Sanxingdui. After careful cleaning and reversible physical fixation, a number of "heavyweight" cultural relics, such as the Dagou statue, the round square statue, the kneeling statue of the top statue, the kneeling statue of the top altar, the kneeling statue of the head turning, and the gold mask, unearthed from the "sacrifice pit" from No. 3 to No. 6 have been "standing" and displayed to the public. Up to now, 77 bronzes, 120 jade articles, 44 gold articles, 678 pieces of ivory and 46 pieces of ivory carving have been cleaned up and repaired. After carbon 14 dating, the age of the "sacrificial pit" at Sanxingdui was confirmed as the late Shang Dynasty, about 3200 to 3000 years ago, which solved the dispute about the burial age of the "sacrificial pit" in the past three decades. Through plant archaeology, researchers found bamboo, reed, cabbage, soybean, etc. in No. 4 "sacrificial pit", indicating that the climate of ancient Shu was warm and humid, and the sacrificial area was close to the river with dense vegetation; Animal archaeological analysis shows that cattle and wild boars are used for sacrifice. What is more surprising is that around the eight "sacrificial pits", archaeologists also found ash ditches, building foundations and small "sacrificial pits", and unearthed precious cultural relics, such as gold ware, copper yuan, stone tiger, stone man, stone Cong, stone wall, jade chisel, turquoise and ivory. Ranhonglin told reporters that the above new findings and research results show that the research on Sanxingdui sacrifice area has achieved phased results. Through the successive efforts of several generations of ancient people, the scope and age of Sanxingdui site have been basically clear. However, there are still many mysteries to be solved in Sanxingdui. At present, we can only see the situation of high-level people engaged in sacrificial activities, and we are not very clear about the production and life of ordinary people. "We want to know more about where Sanxingdui lived and died, and where these artifacts used in sacrificial activities were made. So next, we need to further clarify the palace area, burial area and handicraft workshop area of Sanxingdui site, so as to restore the overall appearance of the ancient capital of Sanxingdui." Ranhonglin said. (Xinhua News Agency)