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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

Bronze tree

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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