The copper tree from 3,000 years ago actually has "high technology"?

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The treasure of Sanxingdui Museum

Large Bronze Sacred Tree No. Ⅰ

1986

Sanxingdui No. 1 and No. 2 sacrificial pits

More than a thousand cultural relics were unearthed

Each piece is enough to amaze the world

In this archaeological discovery

A "big tree" awakens

The largest bronze artifact in China

The “Sacred Tree” is also a “Technology Tree”

Large Bronze Sacred Tree No. Ⅰ

Unearthed in 1986 from the No. 2 sacrificial pit at the Sanxingdui site

After restoration , it is 3.96 meters high

It is the largest bronze artifact discovered in my country so far.

The largest piece

Image source: Official Weibo of Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, Sichuan

Such a huge tree

How did the ancient Shu people cast it?

The burial age of Sanxingdui artifact pit No. 2

Approximately the late Shang Dynasty in the Central Plains

People at that time had already mastered

Bronze smelting, casting and welding technology

The casting process used for the entire bronze ware

It is called "segmented casting method"

Image source: Official Weibo of Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, Sichuan

3,000 years ago, skilled craftsmen from the ancient Shu Kingdom

The trunk, branches, birds, fruits...

Weld the components together

Utilizing the physical properties of lead-tin

Lower the melting point of copper water and increase the strength of copper

Finally, I got this "technology tree" at that time.

Ten suns take turns on duty

The sacred tree is a physical representation of ancient mythology

The tree is divided into three layers, with three branches on each layer, for a total of nine branches

Each branch is divided into two branches, one upward and one downward.

A bronze bird squats on the fork

The bronze bird holds its head high and looks into the distance

Fruits hang from the lower branches, and the branches are bent and drooping

On one side of the tree trunk, a bronze dragon lies on the ground

The dragon's horns rise like flames, and its tail rises high

The body wraps around the tree trunk, like a dragon descending from the tree

Birds look up to the sky, dragons lie on the ground

Tree, dragon and bird form a whole

Connecting their own world

The Classic of Mountains and Seas records: "Nine days on the lower branches, one day on the upper branches."

At that time, people believed that the sun was carried by the "Golden Crow".

They can't explain

The natural phenomenon of the sun rising in the east and setting in the west

So I imagined a hibiscus tree standing in the east.

There is a young tree standing in the west

In the morning, the golden crow lifts up the sun and it rises from Fusang.

Image source: Official Weibo of Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, Sichuan

Landing on Ruomu at night

There are ten suns "taking turns on duty"

One for work, nine for rest

The sun that works on and off for nine days

Shaping the world in the minds of the ancients

It also shaped their beliefs and customs of worshipping the sun

This sacred tree

It is a physical portrayal of the ancient "Ten Suns" myth

It expresses the ancient Shu people’s initial imagination of the universe.

The long road to restoration

Just to see you

In 1986, in the No. 2 sacrificial pit of Sanxingdui site

The large bronze sacred tree No. 1 discovered by chance

Just over 200 pieces of rusty broken fragments

After 8 years

The restoration of the No. 1 large bronze sacred tree has finally been completed

Once again presented to the world

Since then, the restoration of the sacred tree has not stopped.

Of the 8 sacred trees discovered so far,

The restoration of the sacred trees No. Ⅰ and No. Ⅱ has been completed

The No. 3 sacred tree is still being reinforced

Currently on display in the restoration hall

Source: CCTV News WeChat Official Account (ID: cctvnewscenter)

Special thanks to Sichuan Guanghan Sanxingdui Museum, Sichuan Station, China Cultural Relics News Agency