New findings including Gold Mask from Sanxingdui Ruins

중국 쓰촨성서 3천년전 '황금가면' 발견
차대운 기자  / 기사승인 : 2021-03-21 11:34:49
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(Shanghai = Yonhap News) = A rare golden mask has been excavated from prehistoric Sanxingdui Ruins, the renowned ancient site in in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, China.

According to Chinese media including the Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese cultural heritage authorities held a briefing on March 20, Chengdu, Sichuan Province saying that gold masks and Jade, ivory ornaments, and more than 500 artifacts were discovered from six "sacrificial pits" in the ruins. 

 

 

"It has been confirmed that Sanxingdui Ruins site is the oldest site of pre-Qin period (pre-221 BC) in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River," added Lei Yu, head of the excavation team at the Sanxingdui site.

 

Found in a relatively intact state, although part of the face had disappeared, the golden mask is believed to have been made 3,000 years ago. 

 

The gold mask found in one of the pit is larger than previous archaeological findings of kind. 

 

The size of the golden mask is 23cm in width and 28cm in height, respectively, and weighs about 280g. The purity of gold was found to be about 84%.

The excavation team estimated that if this golden mask had been intact, the total weight would have exceeded about 500 grams.

 

Traces of decayed silk from the site have been confirmed.   

 

All these items were retrieved from six rectangular pits newly found in the Sanxingdui Ruins from November 2019 to May 2020. 

With areas ranging between 3.5 square meters and 19 square meters, the pits were found next to another two discovered in the ancient city in 1986. The whole complex was used by ancient people to offer sacrifices to their ancestors, the heaven and the earth, and pray for prosperity.

Around the eight pits there are also small circular pits, grooves and large grooves related to sacrificial activities. 

This round of excavation started in November 2019, following a previous one 34 years ago when more than 1,000 pieces of relics were unearthed in two pits, such as bronze gods, bronze statues, bronze sacred trees, golden masks, golden sticks, jades and ivory. 

 

Located in Sanxingdui township of Sichuan Province, the Sanxingdui Ruins site stands on the south bank of the Jianjiang River (Yazi River), a tributary of the Tuojiang River in the north of the Chengdu Plain.

 

The site covers an area of about 12 square kilometers. Its core area, Sanxingdui Ancient City, covers an area of about 3.6 square kilometers.

The site was first discovered in the late 1920s. It is the largest and highest ranking centralized site ever found in Sichuan Basin which could date back to Xia (c.2070BC-c.1600BC) and Shang (c.1600BC–1046BC) dynasties.