The Sanxingdui Site is located in Zhongxing Township, about 8 kilometers west of Guanghan City, Sichuan Province. During the discovery, excavation and research of the Sanxingdui Site, many difficult questions were raised.
In the spring of 1929, a local farmer Yan Daocheng dug out more than 300 pieces of jade, such as Bi, Zhang, Cong, etc. of the diaspora, this place has attracted attention. In 1934, the former West China University Museum conducted the first archaeological survey and excavation here. In the following decades, several generations of archaeologists have made unremitting archaeological explorations on this land and achieved fruitful results. The east, west and south walls of the site were successively confirmed, and tens of thousands of cultural relics were unearthed. Especially from July to September 1986, two large sacrificial pits were discovered one after another, and thousands of fine cultural relics were born, shaking the world.
The Sanxingdui site has a total area of 12 square kilometers. It is an ancient city and ancient country cultural site with the largest area, the longest duration, the most exquisite unearthed cultural relics, and the richest cultural connotation in Sichuan so far. In October 1997, the Samsung Dimension Museum was built. In January 1998, the Sanxingdui site was announced by the State Council as a “National Key Cultural Relic Protection Unit”, and has been included in the “World Cultural Heritage Key Protection List”. As the second essence of Chinese cultural relics, the Sanxingdui site not only fascinates people with its profound cultural connotation and unique artistic charm, but also brings a series of unparalleled mysteries.
The first mystery, where does Sanxingdui culture come from? The Sanxingdui culture seems to have appeared very suddenly on the western Sichuan Plain, and formed a prosperous and peculiar ancient civilization. It contains a large number of foreign cultural factors, such as Liangzhu Culture, Shijiahe Culture, Erlitou Culture, Yinshang Culture and the cultural content of South Asia and West Asia, as well as a large number of unique artifacts and works of art. In recent years, the discovery of the Andebaodun cultural site group has provided clues for the search for the local origin of the Sanxingdui culture. There is no consensus on how the Sanxingdui culture was formed.
The second mystery, who are the ancient inhabitants of the Sanxingdui site? On this point, there are different views on this point, such as the Shiqiang theory, the Ba people theory, the Dongyi theory, and the Yue people theory.
The third mystery is what was the nature of the regime and religious form of the ancient Shu Kingdom in Sanxingdui? Was Sanxingdui Ancient Shu Kingdom a tribal military alliance attached to the Central Plains dynasty, or was it a relatively independent early country that had established a unified dynasty? Is its religious form nature worship, ancestor worship, deity worship, or both? There are currently different opinions.
The fourth mystery, how did the superb bronze smelting technology and bronze culture of the Sanxingdui Bronze Group come into being? Was it developed and developed by Shu alone, or was it a product of the influence of Central Plains culture, Jingchu culture or foreign cultures such as West Asia and Southeast Asia?
The fifth mystery, how did the ancient Shu Kingdom of Sanxingdui come into being? How long did it last, and why did it suddenly die out?
The sixth mystery, what is the age and nature of the two sacrificial pits where thousands of cultural relics were unearthed? At present, there are disputes on the age of the Shang Dynasty, the late Shang and the early Zhou, the Western Zhou, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period, etc.; there are different views on the nature of the disputes, such as sacrificial pits, burial pits, and artifact pits.
The seventh mystery is the “Ba-Shu language” of the late Shu culture. Are the symbols on the golden rods and other artifacts unearthed at the Sanxingdui site a text, a family emblem, a picture, or some kind of religious symbol?
The ancient mystery of Sanxingdui Ruins is fascinating, and it also leaves a broad space for future exploration and research.