It is not far from Sanxingdui, which is popular on the Internet, and has an amazing "connection" with Sanxingdui!

Who is the most popular archaeological site in recent years? Sanxingdui Museum is the undisputed king! As of New Year's Day 2024, the cumulative number of users of Sanxingdui Mini Program has exceeded 1.88 million! In Chengdu, not far from Guanghan, Sichuan, where the Sanxingdui site is located, there is a site that is inextricably linked to the Sanxingdui site - Jinsha Site, but it is relatively less well-known. What is its connection with Sanxingdui?

01 "Coincidental Resonance" between Sanxingdui Cultural Relics and Jinsha Cultural Relics

Based on the various artifacts unearthed from Sanxingdui Sacrificial Pit No. 1, Sanxingdui Sacrificial Pit No. 2 and the Jinsha Site, we focused on sorting out the similarities between the two sites in terms of gold, bronze and jade artifacts.

(1) Both Sanxingdui and Jinsha artifacts show a worship of birds

There are nine standing bird images on the branches of the bronze sacred tree unearthed from Pit 2 of Sanxingdui, and there is a bird pattern on the golden staff unearthed from Pit 1 of Sanxingdui; the outer layer of the gold foil of the Sun Bird unearthed from the Jinsha Ruins has four equidistant bird images, and the combination pattern of the golden crown belt appears with the image of a bird. In addition, bronze standing birds were also unearthed at the Jinsha Ruins.

Figure 1: Close-up of a bird standing on a branch of the Sanxingdui bronze sacred tree (copyright image from the gallery; reprinting may lead to copyright disputes)

Figure 2: Bronze bird unearthed from the Jinsha Ruins (copyright image of the gallery, reprinting may cause copyright disputes)

(2) Both Sanxingdui and Jinsha artifacts show worship of the sun

Bronze sun-shaped objects were unearthed at the Sanxingdui site. After restoration of one of the objects, it was discovered that its overall structure was circular, with a convex center and five radial rays outside. The other ends of the five rays were all connected to the outermost "halo", suspected to be the shape of a sun .

Figure 3: Bronze sun-shaped vessel in the Sanxingdui Museum (copyright image from the gallery; reprinting may lead to copyright disputes)

The "Sun Bird Gold Foil" unearthed from the Jinsha Ruins is composed of two layers, the inner and outer layers. The outer layer shows four birds flying in a counterclockwise order; the inner layer is a circle with 12 teeth-shaped rays around it, rotating clockwise, like a golden sun rotating in the sky.

Figure 4: Sun Bird Gold Foil in the Jinsha Site Museum (copyright image from the gallery; reprinting may lead to copyright disputes)

(3) Images of amphibians such as toads and frogs appear in both Sanxingdui and Jinsha artifacts

The stone toad unearthed from Sanxingdui was made in a realistic way, with the dense "scrofula" on its back clearly visible. The so-called frog-shaped gold foil unearthed from the Jinsha Ruins is still under discussion, but judging from its characteristics, it is more inclined to be named toad-shaped gold foil.

The "nipple patterns in the details of these two frog-shaped gold foils are engraved...". The nipple pattern is a raised pattern, and there may be a figurative representation of the prototype of the gold foil behind it . And "the skin of a toad is rough, and the back is densely covered with round scrofula of varying sizes." Therefore, the "nipple pattern" of the gold foil is the image of the "round scrofula" of the toad, and it is more appropriate to name it "toad-shaped gold foil."

Figure 5: A round-carved stone toad unearthed from the Sanxingdui ruins (copyright image from the gallery; reprinting may lead to copyright disputes)

Figure 6: The “frog”-shaped gold foil unearthed from the Jinsha Ruins, with the nipple pattern on its back clearly visible (copyright image of the gallery, reprinting and use may cause copyright disputes)

(4) Fish images appear in both Sanxingdui and Jinsha artifacts

Fish-shaped gold foil was unearthed in Sanxingdui No. 2 Sacrificial Pit and Jinsha Site, indicating that fish was an important part of the economic life of the residents at that time. The gold crown belt unearthed from Jinsha Site also shows a combination of "people + birds + fish + arrows", which may reflect the fishing and hunting life of the residents at that time .

Figure 7: Fish-shaped gold foil unearthed from Sanxingdui No. 2 sacrificial pit in 1986 (copyright image from the library; reprinting may cause copyright disputes)

Figure 8: A gold crown belt unearthed from the Jinsha Ruins, with a combination of patterns reflecting fishing and hunting life (copyright image of the library, reprinting and use may cause copyright disputes)

(5) In addition to similar worship images, the artifacts in the two places also have similar shapes:

First, among the bronze artifacts unearthed from the Sanxingdui and Jinsha sites, there appeared “serrated bronze daggers” that had no weapon attributes;

Second, there are square-holed vessels among the bronze vessels unearthed from Sanxingdui and Jinsha sites;

Third, collar-shaped bi-shaped objects were found in the bronze artifacts unearthed from both the Sanxingdui site and the Jinsha site;

Fourth, V-shaped jade halberds and small jade halberds were unearthed at both Sanxingdui and Jinsha sites;

Fifth, human face patterns have been unearthed at both the Sanxingdui and Jinsha sites. This pattern is called "cicada pattern" in the Central Plains region. This pattern occupies a prominent position in Sanxingdui and Jinsha artifacts.

02 The inheritance and characteristics of the cultural factors of Sanxingdui and Jinsha sites

The connection between Sanxingdui and Jinsha cultural relics reflects the inheritance of the intrinsic cultural factors of the two sites - the artifacts generally reflect the images of birds, the sun, toads, fish , etc. In addition, some artifacts in Sanxingdui and Jinsha have traces of processing techniques such as engraving, carving, polishing, and adhesives , suggesting the inheritance of production technology between the two places.

The Sanxingdui sacrificial pits date back to the end of the Shang Dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, while the cultural deposits at the Jinsha site date back to the late Shang Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period. The Sanxingdui culture and the Twelve Bridges culture represented by the Jinsha site are two successive archaeological cultures on the Chengdu Plain, and their cultural factors are similar.

However, the Sanxingdui site and the Jinsha site also showed some changes in their inheritance, which are mainly reflected in the production size and material selection of similar objects.

Among similar artifacts unearthed, some Jinsha artifacts are "not as big" as Sanxingdui artifacts. Take the bronze tiger as an example. The Sanxingdui bronze tiger is about 38cm long and 13.2cm wide, while the Jinsha bronze tiger is about 26.5cm long and 6.2cm wide. The size of the Jinsha bronze tiger shows a clear trend of shrinking compared with the Sanxingdui bronze tiger.

Figure 9: Bronze tiger in Sanxingdui Museum (copyright image of the gallery, reprinting may cause copyright disputes)

Human heads and animal faces are artifacts unearthed from both Sanxingdui and Jinsha sites. In Sanxingdui, bronze is the main artifact, while in Jinsha, wood carvings of animal faces and painted wood carvings of gods and human heads are found. However, there may also be many wooden artifacts in Sanxingdui, which still needs further excavation and research by archaeologists .

03 The artifacts of Jinsha Ruins incorporate both Central Plains culture and Liangzhu culture, forming a certain cultural uniqueness

In addition, the cultural factors of the Jinsha Ruins not only reflect the continuity with the cultural factors of the Sanxingdui Ruins, but also reflect the absorption of the Central Plains culture. For example, the discovery of a collared jade bi that had never been found in Sichuan before at the Jinsha Ruins reflects the exchange with the Central Plains culture .

The cultural elements of the Jinsha site also absorbed the Liangzhu culture. For example, the ten-section jade cong unearthed from the Jinsha site showed a strong Liangzhu jade style, that is, the human figure pattern carved on it showed the carving technique of Liangzhu jade . However, the uniqueness of the Jinsha site is also reflected in a narrow sense. For example, the trapezoidal groove-carved objects, which are not found in Liangzhu, Zhongyuan, and Sanxingdui, are unique to the Jinsha site.

References:

【1】Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. Jinsha: New Archaeological Discoveries in China in the 21st Century[M]. China International Publishing House, 2005.

【2】Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. Sanxingdui Sacrificial Pit[M]. Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1999.

author:

Member of the BoxCat Chinese Science Writers Association, winner of the third prize in the article category of the 2017 "Top Ten New Science Makers" competition

Zhai Guoqing, member of the Chinese Science Writers Association, 2016 "New Science Maker"

Reviewer: Li Haichao, Professor of the School of Archaeology and Museology, Sichuan University, and Head of the Sanxingdui Archaeological Team of Sichuan University

Produced by: Science Popularization China

Produced by: China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., China Science and Technology Publishing House (Beijing) Digital Media Co., Ltd.