Additional Artifacts Recovered from Sanxingdui’s Sacrificial Pits

CHENGDU, CHINA—CNN reports that more than 3,000 additional artifacts estimated to be more than 3,000 years old have been recovered from six sacrificial pits at southwest China’s Sanxingdui archaeological site, which was discovered in the 1920s. The objects include a turtle-shaped box made of bronze and jade, according to Li Haichao of Sichuan University, whose team also recovered a bronze altar that stands about three feet tall. Traces of bamboo, reeds, soybeans, cattle, and boar in the pits may have been left behind by sacrifices, he added. Ran Honglin of the Sanxingdui Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute said that a sculpture with the head of a human and the body of a snake reflects the style of the local Shu civilization, while ceremonial vessels found in the pits are thought to have come from the Zhongyuan culture of China’s central plains. “More cultural relics unearthed at Sanxingdui have also been seen in other locales in China, giving evidence of the early exchange and integration of Chinese civilization,” Ran explained. For more on Sanxingdui, go to "Seismic Shift."