Sanxingdui is often remembered for its bronze masks, gold ornaments, and striking ritual artifacts. At a public lecture in Bao'an District, Shenzhen, on May 16, archaeologist Sun Hua offered a more evidence-based interpretation: Sanxingdui was not an isolated mystery, but part of the evolving ancient Shu civilization.
Sun, a professor at Peking University's School of Archaeology and Museology and president of the Sanxingdui Research Institute, delivered the first 2026 lecture of the newly upgraded Bao'an Academy under the Chinese Civilization Origins Project. Titled From Sanxingdui to Jinsha: New Discoveries and New Understandings of Sanxingdui, the lecture drew nearly 300 people to the open-air steps of the Bay Area Eye Book City, while more than 58,000 viewers watched online.
Sun said the Sanxingdui site that is familiar to the public mainly represents the later phase of a much longer cultural process. Located in Guanghan, Sichuan Province, the site dates roughly from 2500 B.C. to 900 B.C. and includes several successive cultural stages. Its early phase showed links with the Central Plains and northwestern China, while its later phase absorbed stronger Shang cultural influences and saw the emergence of bronze ritual artifacts.
He also offered a fresh interpretation of the so-called sacrificial pits. Rather than viewing them as the original ritual site, Sun suggested that the objects may have originally belonged to a temple inside the city. After the temple was damaged or destroyed, they were moved outside the city wall and buried in prepared pits.
The lecture presented Sanxingdui and Jinsha as part of a continuous story. Jinsha, later discovered in Chengdu, followed Sanxingdui chronologically and became the new center of the Chengdu Plain. The two sites shared solar worship, divine imagery, bronze eyes, gold ornaments, and similar city layouts, yet also showed clear changes in ritual vessels, political structure, and burial customs.
From Sanxingdui to Jinsha, Sun argued, ancient Shu civilization underwent through continuity, relocation and transformation. Its political center shifted, its ritual system changed, and social power appears to have become more centralized.
Sun also addressed whether the Sanxingdui people used writing. He said Chinese characters were mainly used by the Shang ruling class at the time, and the Sanxingdui people likely had not yet learned them. The ancient Shu people may have gained command of Chinese writing later, after contact with the Zhou during the Jinsha period.
In this sense, Sanxingdui and Jinsha form a "wordless epic," a history written not in texts, but in bronze, gold, jade, and ritual remains.
The lecture was moderated by Tang Jigen, chair professor at Southern University of Science and Technology and former head of the Anyang archaeological team at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Tang said Sun had brought the latest materials and interpretations to Shenzhen audiences. During the dialogue session, the two scholars exchanged views on whether certain Sanxingdui images should be understood as gods or ghostly/divine beings, giving the audience a glimpse of how archaeological interpretations are tested and refined.
The event marked the first appearance of the lecture series after its upgrade from Bao'an Forum to Bao'an Academy. Since its launch in 2022, the series has held 18 sessions and attracted more than 500,000 participants online and offline. This year, the upgraded academy will continue with four major lectures and a series of related educational activities.
Reporter | Wang Yue
Photo | Nanfang Plus
