Ancient artifacts found in Sanxingdui, China help illuminate Shu kingdom
A trove of artifacts discovered in sacrificial pits at the Sanxingdui archaeological site shed new light on China's ancient Shu kingdom.
A bronze altar and a dragon with a pig's nose are among a trove of items discovered in sacrificial pits that shed new light on the buried secrets of an ancient Chinese civilization.
Archaeologists on Monday announced the "significant" series of finds at the Sanxingdui ruins in China's southwestern Sichuan province, according to the team behind the dig and the state-run Xinhua news agency.
A team including academics from Peking University and Sichuan University found thousands of items including intricate bronze, gold and jade items, and what it called the unprecedented discovery of 10 bronzes. Experts say the finds date back 3,000 to 4,500 years.
Discovered in the late 1920s, Sanxingdui is one of the key Chinese archaeological sites. Experts think its treasures once belonged to the ancient Shu kingdom, which dates back 4,800 years and lasted 2,000 years.
The new finds mostly come from what archaeologists call sacrificial pits 7 and 8, the highlight being a bronze box with a tortoise-shaped lid containing jade artifacts, including dragon heads. Traces of silk fabric were found surrounding the box.
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