Last full day of our 2-week Sichuan road-trip and we end it on a high point: a visit of SanXinDui, one of the greatest archeological discoveries of all times, anywhere in the world.
Unfortunately SanXinDui is bizarrely unknown in the West, even though it ranks on par with things like the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb or the Terracotta army in Xi'an.
SanXinDui used to be the capital of China's ancient Shu kingdom which ruled here between 1,700BC and 1,200BC so everything in the museum is 3,000 to 4,000 years old.
The artifacts found here - and they uncovered an incredible 17,000 objects already - are beyond extraordinary, almost otherworldly, revealing a unique culture unlike anything that had been found in China before. And a culture much more advanced for that time period of Chinese history than had been assumed before.
Here you can see 4 pieces we just saw in the museum:
- A monumental bronze mask in pure SanXinDui style, with protruding eyes that archeologists believe symbolizes a far-sighted leader or shaman
- A typical SanXinDui mask with a gold plated mask on top of it
- A monumental 4m tall bronze "tree" with dragons for its roots and birds with 9 fruits and birds on its branches
- A wheel with 5 beams thought to represent the sun
More artefacts we saw in the museum in the 🧵 below 👇
Unfortunately SanXinDui is bizarrely unknown in the West, even though it ranks on par with things like the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb or the Terracotta army in Xi'an.
SanXinDui used to be the capital of China's ancient Shu kingdom which ruled here between 1,700BC and 1,200BC so everything in the museum is 3,000 to 4,000 years old.
The artifacts found here - and they uncovered an incredible 17,000 objects already - are beyond extraordinary, almost otherworldly, revealing a unique culture unlike anything that had been found in China before. And a culture much more advanced for that time period of Chinese history than had been assumed before.
Here you can see 4 pieces we just saw in the museum:
- A monumental bronze mask in pure SanXinDui style, with protruding eyes that archeologists believe symbolizes a far-sighted leader or shaman
- A typical SanXinDui mask with a gold plated mask on top of it
- A monumental 4m tall bronze "tree" with dragons for its roots and birds with 9 fruits and birds on its branches
- A wheel with 5 beams thought to represent the sun
More artefacts we saw in the museum in the 🧵 below 👇
You can see many, many bronze masks, all with similar features but all unique
You also have more complete statues like this guy who looks like a 4,000 years old weightlifter 😊
This small item, thought to be a kid's toy, is extraordinarily popular on Chinese social media because it looks like the pigs in Angry Birds 😅
This is one of the masterpieces of the museum: a monumental statue of what's believed to be a religious figure performing a ritual
The Shu kingdom is famous for its love of gold, which is rare in China's history (they're more of a jade people) and you can see plenty of gold masks
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