"Ritual Bronzes" Result

In the sweltering summer of 1986, two unassuming earthen pits in Guanghan, Sichuan Province, yielded a discovery that would shatter every preconceived notion about the origins of Chinese civilization. The Sanxingdui Ruins—a Bronze Age mystery buried

The world of archaeology rarely delivers a shock as profound as the one that erupted from the Sichuan Basin in 1986. When farmers accidentally stumbled upon jade and bronze fragments in the mud near the village of Sanxingdui, they had no idea they we

The story of ancient Chinese civilization, long narrated by the Yellow River and the oracle bones of the Shang Dynasty, was irrevocably altered in the summer of 1986. In a quiet corner of Sichuan Province, near the city of Guanghan, archaeologists un

The story of Chinese archaeology is often told through the familiar narratives of the Yellow River, of oracle bones and majestic Shang dynasty bronzes. Then, in 1986, a discovery in the quiet Sichuan basin shattered that narrative entirely. Near the