An archeological site in southwestern China yielded new trove of some 500 objects, with many dating back 3,000 years. Among the most significant new finds is a gold mask that weighs just over half a pound and is estimated to be made of 84 percent gold.
The finds were made at Sanxingdui, a 4.6-square-mile area outside the provincial capital of Chengdu. Some experts say the items may shine further light on the ancient Shu state, a kingdom that ruled in the western Sichuan basin until it was conquered in 316 BC.
In addition to the gold mask, archaeologists uncovered bronzes, gold foils and artifacts made from ivory, jade and bone. The six pits, of which the largest has a footprint of 19 square meters (205 square feet), also yielded an as-yet-unopened wooden box and a bronze vessel with owl-shaped patterning.
Another major find in the recent discovery is silk that dates back to the Shu Han era. Its find supports theories that silk was an important part of spiritual rituals to the community and could prove that Chengdu was major production site of silk and a stop along the southwestern portion of the Silk Road.
“Although the silk found at the Sanxingdui site is not the oldest, such a discovery is still very exciting,” Zhou Yang, a researcher at the China National Silk Museum, said in a statement. “This time we found silk in the sacrificial pit. We are very happy to see that through archaeological excavations, we found that the function of silk has been elevated to a spiritual level.”
The recent discoveries at Sanxingdui are not the oldest archeological finds, as some have dated back to the 12th and 11th centuries B.C.E. More than 50,000 ancient artifacts have been found at Sanxingdui since the 1920s, when a local farmer accidentally came upon a number of relics at the site. A major breakthrough occurred in 1986, with the discovery of two ceremonial pits containing over 1,000 items, including elaborate and well-preserved bronze masks.
In a statement provided to the Chengdu government accompanying the recent finds, Xu Hong, the leader of a different archeological site looking into the ancient Erlitou culture said, “This excavation can further clarify the nature of the sacrificial pit at Sanxingdui site, understand the religious life and sacrificial tradition of the Sanxingdui people, and get closer to the truth of history.”