Why is Sanxingdui site known as "the source of Yangtze River civilization"?

Sanxingdui Ancient Site is located in the south bank of Yahe River in the northwest of Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, with a distribution area of 12 square kilometers. It has a history of 5000 to 3000 years. It is by far the largest, longest-lasting and richest cultural site in southwest China. The city walls in the east, west, south and Moon Bay are the best preserved. Sanxingdui site is regarded as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. It shows that the Yangtze River basin, like the Yellow River basin, belongs to the matrix of Chinese civilization and is known as the "source of Yangtze River civilization".

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Sanxingdui site is a huge site group composed of many ancient cultural relics. In June, it was announced as a national key cultural relics protection unit 1988 1. Archaeologists divide the cultural remains of the site group into four periods, one of which is early accumulation and belongs to late Neolithic culture, and the second to fourth periods belong to bronze culture. The site group dates from the late Neolithic period to the end of Shang Dynasty and the beginning of Zhou Dynasty, and lasts for nearly 2000 years.

Sanxingdui site group has a huge scale and a wide range. Most of the remains of ancient culture are distributed on the high platforms on both sides of Mamu River in the south bank of Yahe River. The plane of the site group is an irregular trapezoid with a width of 5-6 kilometers from east to west and 2-3 kilometers from north to south, with a total area of about 1.200 hectares. It is the largest and most important ancient cultural relic in Sichuan. There are more than 30 confirmed sites of ancient culture, among which Sanxingdui in the south, Moon Bay and Zhenwu Palace in the middle, Xiquankan in the north, Shiziyan in the east, Hengliangzi in the west, Rensheng Village and Dayan Village extending westward are the most important sites. Sanxingdui site group covers a period of 2000 years, producing a large number of pottery, stone tools, jade articles, bronzes and goldware, with distinctive local cultural characteristics, forming its own cultural system, which was named "Sanxingdui Culture" by Chinese archaeologists.

Sanxingdui site is an important representative of the world bronze civilization from16th century BC to14th century BC, which is of great value to the study of the early national process and the development of religious consciousness and occupies an important position in the history of human civilization. It is the largest ruins of the capital city in southwest China, and has a regional central position. Its discovery provided unique material evidence for the disappearing ancient Shu State, and pushed forward the history of civilization in Sichuan for more than two thousand years.

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1From July to September, 1986, nearly 1,000 precious cultural relics such as gold, copper, jade, stone, pottery, shells and bones were unearthed from two large sacrificial pits in Shang Dynasty. Among thousands of bronzes, goldware and jade unearthed in Sanxingdui Sacrificial Pit, 300 to 400 bronzes are the most distinctive.

Among them, the types of bronzes unearthed in No.1 pit are human heads, human faces, human masks, kneeling statues, dragon ornaments, dragon cylindrical vessels, tiger-shaped vessels, ge, Huan, square hole walls, dragon and tiger statues, sheep statues, cans, vessel covers and plates. The bronzes unearthed in pit 2 include large bronze statues, kneeling statues, human heads, human masks, animal masks, animal faces, shrines, sacred trees, sun-shaped devices, eye-shaped devices, eye bubbles, bronze bells, bronze ornaments, bronze squares, birds, snakes, chickens, monsters, buffalo heads, deer and catfish. [6]?

Among them, the gold staff is 142 cm long and weighs 780 grams, all of which are made of pure gold leather bags. The staff is engraved with a herringbone pattern, with a height of 18 1 cm, a base of 79 cm, a total height of 260 cm and a weight of about 300 kg. It is the oldest and largest bronze unearthed in the world. The bronze sacred tree is 350 cm high, with many birds and animals, bells and various fruits hanging on it. It is a special artifact of ancient wizards. In addition, more than 40 kinds of bronze heads and 10 masks have been unearthed. The discovery of Sanxingdui, an unprecedented group of precious cultural relics, has pushed forward the history of ancient Shu civilization for 1500 years and caused a sensation in the world archaeology.

The pottery unearthed from Sanxingdui site consists of high-handled beans, small flat-bottomed pots and bird-head spoons, including a bottle-shaped cup, which is a very local artifact unearthed from Sanxingdui. It is made into a bell mouth, a thin neck and a round flat bottom, much like the ceramic wine bottle used to iron wine in northern China today, and also like the wine bottle used by Japanese to drink sake. Pottery has also been found in many sites, which is quite distinctive. Generally, it is thirty or forty centimeters high, with three baggy feet at the lower part and a hollow middle, which can increase its capacity. It is generally believed that it is used to warm wine, and its jade articles are mostly made of jade and Zhang, especially Bian Yuzhang, which is called the "king of the border chapter", with a residual length of 159 cm and a thickness of 65438.

During the excavation of two sacrificial pits in Sanxingdui, more than 80 pieces of ivory were unearthed. There are many views on its origin and function in academic circles, some think it comes from trade, and some think that the ecological environment in ancient Sichuan is suitable for elephants to survive. The main evidence is that a large number of semi-fossil ebony has been found in the local area, and the monomer is huge. But no matter what its source is, it can be regarded as a symbol of the wealth of rulers.

Bronzes unearthed in Sanxingdui include bronze heads of different shapes, painted faces when unearthed, and perforated earlobes for hanging earrings. It seems that our ancestors loved beauty very much. In addition to these bronze statues, there are many sacrificial statues. There are various animal and plant shapes here, including the bronze chicken, which is regarded as a masterpiece of realism, and a large number of exquisite cultural relics such as the bronze sun-shaped device unearthed for the first time in China. They are obviously different from the Central Plains culture, which shows that Sanxingdui culture is not only a typical representative of ancient Shu culture, but also the center of ancient civilization in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, thus once again eloquently proving that the origin of Chinese civilization is pluralistic and integrated.

Sanxingdui cultural relics also fill important gaps in the fields of archaeology, aesthetics and history in China. The world needs to reevaluate China's ancient civilization. Among Sanxingdui cultural relics, the bronze sacred tree, which is 3.95 meters high and integrates the functions of "Fusang", "Jian Mu" and "Ruomu", is divided into three layers and has nine branches. There is a bird on each branch. It is not a bird in the general sense, but a god bird representing the sun. Bronze portraits are known as the king of bronze statues and the king of masks. The bronze vertical mask is the idol of Can Cong, the ancestor of Shu people, with a length of 1. 42 meters. As a scepter, the golden staff is engraved with exquisite and mysterious patterns. Two birds stand opposite each other, the back of the fish stands opposite each other, and an arrow is pressed on the head and neck of the bird. At the same time, there is a human head full of mysterious smiles. Yu Bianzhang, whose whole body is covered with patterns, and dozens of bronze human heads similar in size to real people's heads are unprecedented.

Because the discovery of Sanxingdui site is very different from the long-term understanding of Bashu culture in historians, and in some places it is even completely different. Historians have always believed that compared with the Central Plains, the ancient Bashu area is a relatively closed place with little or no connection with the Central Plains civilization. Sanxingdui Site proves that it should be an important cultural center around the Xia and Shang Dynasties in China, or even earlier, and it has a certain connection with the Central Plains culture. Verified the authenticity of ancient Shu records in ancient literature.