Sanxingdui: “Archaeology with Chinese characteristics”

China is currently experiencing a golden age of archaeology. The focus is on the spectacular discoveries at Sanxingdui, which challenge the image of a unified Chinese identity. Xi Jinping wants the excavation site to be recognized as one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the century. In China, ancient studies are always political.

The archaeological finds from Sanxingdui look like something out of a surreal horror film: gigantic box heads. Creatures with stalked eyes. Hybrid creatures with snake bodies and bird legs. And a four-meter-high bronze tree with mysterious birds perched on its branches. The dramatically illuminated artifacts can be seen in the Sanxingdui Museum in the northeastern part of the excavation site, around 40 kilometers from Sichuan's capital Chengdu.

A mysterious culture buried them in eight sacrificial pits around 3,000 years ago, six of which have been uncovered since their discovery in the mid-1980s. At the end of March, archaeologists presented further objects to the public, including an altar and a chest in the shape of a turtle shell. "Spectacular finds," as Prof. Dr. Maria Khayutina, sinologist and expert on pre-imperial China at the LMU Munich, explains to China.Table. "Unfortunately, the Western world is not very interested in discoveries outside its cultural area. What you don’t know is often simply ignored.”

In China, however, there were live reports of the excavations for days this spring. Sanxingdui has long been part of pop culture here. At this year's CCTV New Year's Gala, the largest television event in the world, a choreography with Sanxingdui holograms On Chinese e-commerce sites you can Sneakers with Sanxingdui motifs buy, T-shirts, pen holders, ice cream sticks and emojis are also available in the shape of the distinctive bronze heads. In 2016, China's film industry even announced a blockbuster co-produced by US star director James Cameron, in which a visitor from abroad gets to know the Sanxingdui culture. The main role in “The Guest of Sanxingdui” should none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was also hired as an international ambassador for the archaeological site

In fact, not only Chinese historians consider Sanxingdui to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century – even more important than the Terracotta Army from Xi'an. At the same time, the objects seem so strange that they cannot be placed in the same category as other finds from China. Who were the creators of these strange works? What purpose did they serve? There are no written documents or human remains, which makes the matter even more puzzling. Last year, the state-run newspaper Global Times even felt compelled to to publish an article, in which an extraterrestrial origin of the Sanxingdui civilization was ruled out.

China’s history needs to be rewritten

For a long time, there was a consensus among Chinese historians that Chinese civilization developed along the middle valley of the Yellow River. In the 1920s, archaeologists unearthed remains of the last capital of the Shang Dynasty in the central excavation site of Anyang. It was here that a large number of the famous oracle bones were discovered, which are considered to be the first evidence of the Chinese writing tradition.

During the excavations, the civil war was raging, and shortly afterwards the Japanese invaded. Both of these factors fuelled the yearning for a unified Chinese identity. Neolithic excavation sites along the Yangzi or bronze finds in Gansu had given rise to the theory the cradle of civilization in the heart of China after the Cultural Revolution. But it was only the highly refined bronze objects in Sanxingdui, separated by mountain ranges, turned the old world view on its head.

According to the official Chinese interpretation, the Sanxingdui pieces are Relics of the Kingdom of Shu, which is said to have existed for more than 2,000 years. However, the Shu are more "mystery than history". "Shu is known as the name of a kingdom that existed 1,000 years later in what is now Sichuan," says Khayutina. "I don't think it is clear whether there was a direct connection between it and Sanxingdui." Some scientists are of the opinion that the people of Sanxingdui had connections with cultures in Burma, Central Asia and India. Amateur scientist Su San even explains in two books that the Sanxingdui society originated from the Red Sea. However, the evidence for this is just as thin as the claim that Sanxingdui was in active exchange with aliens.

Evidence of the diversity of Chinese culture

Today, Chinese historians are primarily looking for commonalities in Sanxingdui. Professor Zhao Hao of Peking University, who is involved in the excavations in Pit No. 8, said last week on state televisionthat basic motifs of Chinese culture such as dragons or the Zun vessels typical of the Shang Dynasty can also be found in Sanxingdui. "The idea of a culture in which different influences come together fits much better with the concept of a modern nation than the old world view," explains Khayutina. And in fact, Sanxingdui is seen in China today above all as proof of how diverse Chinese culture also flourished outside of the supposed center.

President Xi Jinping, who is personally promoting the recognition of Sanxingdui as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, knows about the power of a national myth that reinforces the image of a diverse and peace-loving trading partner in the times of the New Silk Road highlights (China.Table reported). The state-run Xinhua news agency quoted him in October 2021 as saying that the Sanxingdui excavations "reveal the origin and development of Chinese culture, its glorious achievements, as well as its great contributions to the culture of this world.

Bombastic museum facilities

Thanks in part to Xi, China is currently experiencing a “Golden Age of archeology with Chinese characteristics,” writes the South China Morning PostWhile the Sanxingdui finds were still transported on bicycles in the 1980s, The archaeological site is now one of the most modern in the world. More than 120 scientists from all over the country work here. Laboratories have been set up above the pits in which humidity and temperature are precisely balanced. The archaeologists wear protective suits. No hair or skin flakes are supposed to falsify the radiocarbon and DNA tests.

Also a new, 30,000 square meter exhibition hall for the latest finds is being planned. "China values its cultural heritage and also exploits it," says Khayutina. “At every important site, bombastic museum complexes are being opened that Europe can only dream of.”

Excavations in the last remaining sacrificial pits are due to be completed early next year. However, research into the Sanxingdui culture is only just beginning, says Wang Wei, a historian at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. "The next step is to search for larger buildings in which, for example, the last altar found could have stood." Then perhaps the riddle that is pressing for Chinese historiography - how this highly developed civilization could have disappeared from the scene so suddenly - will be solved.

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