Sanxingdui: The Mysterious Sichuan Civilization That Appears in No Text

In 1929, a farmer digging an irrigation canal in Guanghan district, Sichuan (China), uncovered dozens of jade and bronze objects of unusual form. It would take until 1986 for two sacrificial pits to be systematically excavated -- and the world then realized that there existed, in the heart of China, an entirely unknown Bronze AgeBronze AgeA protohistoric period following the Neolithic, defined by bronze metallurgy (a copper-tin alloy) and the rise of the first cities and states; in Egypt it corresponds to the age of the first pyramids.→ civilization, with no apparent connection to the Yellow River Valley cultures that constitute the classical cradle of Chinese civilization. Sanxingdui ("Three Star Mounds") was about to overturn the history of ancient Asia.¹

The Sacrificial Pits: A Spectacular Staging

The two large pits discovered in 1986 contained thousands of objects in bronze, gold, jade, and ivory -- all broken or burned before burialBurialThe intentional deposition of a body, sometimes with offerings; a marker of symbolic behaviour.→, an intentional ritual gesture whose meaning still escapes archaeologists. The bronze masks, with almond-shaped eyes protruding several centimeters from their sockets, have no equivalent in Bronze Age art worldwide. They perhaps represent a deity with supernatural vision, capable of seeing beyond human limits.

The most spectacular piece is a standing human bronze statue measuring 2.62 meters (4.8 meters with its pedestal) -- the largest human bronze sculpture found for this period in Asia. It depicts a figure with raised arms, hands forming an empty circle -- perhaps to hold a symbol, ivory tusk, or ritual pole. Monumental bronze trees (up to 4 meters tall), adorned with birds, fruits, and cascading branches, evoke a mythological cosmos not yet deciphered.²

In 2021: Six New Pits

In March 2021, archaeologists from the Sichuan Archaeological Institute announced the discovery of six new sacrificial pits at Sanxingdui, containing more than 1,000 additional objects -- including a partially intact gold mask, bronze pieces of stunning technical complexity, and fragments of elephant ivory. These finds, excavated using the most modern methods (on-site genetic analysis, drone photogrammetry, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy), confirmed that Sanxingdui is one of the most important archaeological sites of the 21st century.

What strikes in the new pieces is the diversity of imported materials: ivory (not from Sichuan), bronze (whose copper and tin sources are still debated), and jade. These imports testify to a trading city at the heart of an active transcontinental exchange network as early as 1200 BCE.

A People without WritingWritingA system of conventional signs used to fix language or information durably; its appearance (c. 3300 BC) marks, by convention, the end of prehistory.→, without Weapons

One of Sanxingdui's most disconcerting characteristics is the complete absence of writing -- while the contemporary Shang civilization, reigning in the Yellow River Valley, already used oracle bone script. The other surprise is the absence of offensive weapons: no swords, no spears, no war chariots. The only weapons found are small ceremonial axes ("ge") with no usable edge.

Sanxingdui therefore appears to be a theocratic rather than military city-state, centered on rituals involving fire, ivory and bronze sacrifices, and perhaps psychoactive substances. Some researchers see in the bronze trees a representation of the shamanic World Tree, linking the underworld, human, and celestial realms.³

The Mystery of Disappearance

Around 1000 BCE, Sanxingdui disappears suddenly and inexplicably. The sacrificial pits appear to have been filled on a single occasion -- perhaps during a hasty exodus or catastrophe. The most widespread hypothesis is a catastrophic flood of the Ya River, forcing the population to migrate toward Jinsha, some fifty kilometers to the southwest (present-day Chengdu), where similar objects have been found from 1001 BCE onward.

No Chinese historical source explicitly mentions Sanxingdui. The State of Shu, which occupied Sichuan, appears in the annals only late and fragmentarily. The people of Sanxingdui remain nameless in history -- an entire civilization whose language, precise mythology, and social organization we do not know. This silence of texts, against the artistic roar of the bronzes, is perhaps the most fascinating thing of all.