Treasures of ancient China unearthed by experts in Sichuan

With a range of new discoveries, the Sanxingdui Ruins site and the Piluo site in Southwest China's Sichuan province were recently ranked among the best Chinese archaeological assets in 2021.

In late March, the two historical sites made the lists of China's New Archaeological Discoveries in 2021 and China's Top 10 New Archaeological Discoveries of 2021. They were released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the National Cultural Heritage Administration respectively.

In March 2020, archaeologists restarted the excavation of a sacrificial pits area at the Sanxingdui Ruins. They have discovered six new pits at the site and unearthed more than 12,000 relics. These range from gold masks, bird-shaped gold foils, bronze crowns and bronze masks to seashells, with parts of them featuring strange shapes and carvings.

The Sanxingdui Ruins site is on the outskirts of Guanghan, Sichuan province, and has more than 3,000 years of history. The site sits by the Tuojiang River in the north of Chengdu Plain and spans about 12 square kilometers. It was accidentally discovered by Guanghan local Yan Daocheng when he was digging a ditch in 1929.

In 1986, more than 1,700 unique relics such as gold, bronze, jade, bone and pottery were unearthed in the No 1 and No 2 pits. The site was then dubbed as one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century and drew global attention.

The latest archaeological finds in the Sanxingdui Ruins were conducted with technological support, said Ran Honglin, an archaeologist with the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

Adopting a new philosophy of coordinated protection and multidisciplinary cooperation, the discovery work used an innovative cabin that maintained a constant temperature and humidity, a multifunctional operation system and an on-site emergency experiment platform, Ran said.

The new move means a great deal to the development of the discipline and is an important practice in exploring Chinese archaeology, he added.

"The archaeological discovery has led to good achievements with the new philosophy," Ran said.

He said that ivory unearthed in the No 1 and No 2 pits in 1986 had not been well preserved due to technological limitations at the time.

But now, archaeologists can study the newest ivory through teamwork based on a research presupposition, which helps preserve the item and contributes to relevant research work, Ran added.

Being a crucial part of China's archaeological finds, the new discovery at the Sanxingdui Ruins furthers research on the Bashu civilization in Sichuan and Chongqing.

"The new relics found in the ruins are typical examples of the Bashu civilization and they expand our knowledge of the civilization's culture," he said.

He noted that with these relics, experts can research the techniques and technologies of copper casting, and the jade, stone and gold crafts of the ancient Shu Kingdom. Shu was an ancient state in what is now Sichuan.

According to Ran, the six new pits and the two discovered in 1986 all concern sacrificial activities, which are cherished historical resources to learn about the rituals of the Shu civilization.

The finding of relics in the No 7 and No 8 pits continues. In the meantime, the local authority said it will protect, clean and restore relics.

According to Ran, a series of new findings and protection results are to be announced soon.

Another major discovery is the Piluo site located in Daocheng county of Sichuan province at an average altitude of more than 3,750 meters.

The Piluo site was found in 2020 and has an area of nearly 1 million square meters, making it a megasite of the Paleolithic period.

In 2021, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology unearthed more than 10,000 stone artifacts at the Piluosite in its first discovery, according to local officials.

Hand axes found at the site are Acheulean-era tools. So far they are the most exquisite and most complete Acheulean tools in East Asia, according to Zheng Zhexuan, an archaeologist at the institute.

"Acheulean tools found in the site including a hand axe, hand pick and thin-bladed axe garnered widespread attention because the relics offer solid evidence for the inheritance of Acheulean technology and communication between East and West," Zheng said.

Hand axes from the site's upper layer are believed to have been made at least 130,000 years ago. The process of dating the ones found in lower layers is ongoing, according to Zheng.

From the current findings, the Piluo site is thought to have experienced at least three stages of cultural evolution. These cultural elements include human migration and communication, Zheng said.

But they still cannot confirm an accurate connection between this site and others. There are only some clues of stone tablets and Acheulean technology that suggest it might be related to regions in South China, Shaanxi, Guangxi and Shanxi, as well as South Asia.

"These connections imply that the Piluo site is like a crossroads for culture, with its population, culture and communication being beyond our knowledge in the past," Zheng said.

The institute is working on a long-term plan to discover, protect and utilize the Piluo site and has applied for a second dig this year, according to Zheng.

Apart from the Piluo site, hundreds of relics from the Paleolithic period have been found in the western Sichuan areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Chengdu Plain, Zheng said. He added that archaeologists will conduct research and excavation on some relics after inspection in a bid to contribute more to archaeological studies.

A total of 14 sites in Sichuan province, including the Jinsha Ruins site in Chengdu, have made the annual list of China's Top 10 New Archaeological Discoveries since it was launched in 1990, according to local officials.