Sanxingdui, an Archeological Fascination
The figure may represent a priest, a deity, a mythical figure, or a king of
the ancient kingdom in Sichuan. He might also present the God of the sun because
on the front of his coronet is carved with the pattern symbolizing the sun. In a
raised position, his hands seem to hold an object. If there was something in his
hands, what could it be? Possibly an elephant tusk, a jade object, or a scepter
capable of displaying his authority.
ˇ¤Bronze human head with gold leaf

This bronze human head seems to wear a gold mask, which is applied in a thin
layer to the front of the head, but not to the eyes and eyebrows. Among the
forty-plus heads found in Pit 2 at Sanxingdui, only two had gold leaf. When they
were found, people immediately associated them with those of the ancient Egypt
and West Asia, where gold masks were often used to cover faces of dead kings and
thought to bring them an eternal afterlife.
Are the gold masks at Sanxingdui alien objects? Some suggest they might be
the result of the influence from Egypt and West Asia; while some believe they
are not masks at all, but merely facial ornaments, and they may have served to
show status different from other heads.
ˇ¤ Bronze tree and bronze sun wheel: sun worship
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Bronze tree
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Bronze sun
wheel |
The bronze tree vividly shaped but its top lost, is 3.93 meters high. With a
dragon
circling the trunk, the tree was believed to be capable of reaching Heaven. On
each of the nine winding branches a bronze bird perches on a bud. And along with
this bronze tree some other bronze birds, each on a bud, were also unearthed.
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