'Sacrificial pits' reveal ancient artifacts at Sanxingdui Ruins
China Daily
1616219690000
Chinese archaeologists announced Saturday that some new major discoveries have been made at the legendary Sanxingdui Ruins site in southwest China, helping shed light on the cultural origins of the Chinese nation. Abundant bronze wares are unearthed in the No 3 sacrificial pit of Sanxingdui Site in Guanghan, Sichuan province, on March 19, 2021. (Photos: China Daily)
Archaeologists have found six new sacrificial pits and unearthed more than 500 items dating back about 3,000 years at the Sanxingdui Ruins in Sichuan Province, the National Cultural Heritage Administration announced in the provincial capital Chengdu.
The new pits sit next to two sacrificial pits discovered in 1986. Together they form an area in which people of the ancient Shu civilization offered sacrifices to heaven, earth and their ancestors, and prayed for prosperity and peace, according to Tang Fei, head of the excavation team at Sanxingdui and chief of the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute.
A crested bronze mask with protruding pupils is one of best known artifacts of Sanxingdui Site.
A bronze statue of human figure, excavated from Sanxingdui Site in 1986, is on display at the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, Southwest China's Sichuan province.
On Sanxingdui Site, a researcher analyzes components of a newly unearthed artifact in lab on March 19, 2021.