Magzoid Magazine - Leading Art Magazine of MENA | May 2021

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Chinese Archaeologists dug up a 3000 year
old gold mask
function of silk has been elevated to
a spiritual level.”
The recent discoveries at
Sanxingdui are not the oldest
archeological finds, as some have
dated back to the 12th and 11th
centuries B.C.E. More than 50,000
ancient artifacts have been found at
Sanxingdui since the 1920s, when
a local farmer accidentally came
upon a number of relics at the site.
A major breakthrough occurred
in 1986, with the discovery of two
ceremonial pits containing over
1,000 items, including elaborate and
An archeological site in
southwestern China
yielded new trove of
some 500 objects, with
many dating back 3,000
years. Among the most significant
new finds is a gold mask that
weighs just over half a pound and is
estimated to be made of 84 percent
gold.
The finds were made at Sanxingdui,
a 4.6-square-mile area outside the
provincial capital of Chengdu. Some
experts say the items may shine
further light on the ancient Shu state,
a kingdom that ruled in the western
Sichuan basin until it was conquered
in 316 BC.
In addition to the gold mask,
archaeologists uncovered bronzes,
gold foils and artifacts made from
ivory, jade and bone. The six pits, of
which the largest has a footprint of
19 square meters (205 square feet),
also yielded an as-yet-unopened
wooden box and a bronze vessel
with owl-shaped patterning.
Another major find in the recent
discovery is silk that dates back to
the Shu Han era. Its find supports
theories that silk was an important
part of spiritual rituals to the
community and could prove that
Chengdu was major production
site of silk and a stop along the
southwestern portion of the Silk
Road.
“Although the silk found at the
Sanxingdui site is not the oldest,
such a discovery is still very exciting,”
Zhou Yang, a researcher at the China
National Silk Museum, said in a
statement. “This time we found silk in
the sacrificial pit. We are very happy
to see that through archaeological
excavations, we found that the
“This time we found
silk in the sacrificial
pit. We are very
happy to see that
through archaeological
excavations, we found
that the function of silk
has been elevated to a
spiritual level.”
well-preserved bronze masks.
In a statement provided to the
Chengdu government accompanying
the recent finds, Xu Hong, the leader
of a different archeological site
looking into the ancient Erlitou culture
said, “This excavation can further
clarify the nature of the sacrificial pit
at Sanxingdui site, understand the
religious life and sacrificial tradition
of the Sanxingdui people, and get
closer to the truth of history.”
-news@magzoid.com
10 May 2021
www.magzoid.com