The 'fairy world' of ancient China is alluded to by several enigmatic artifacts

Artifacts from the Bronze Age that were discovered in China were burned to commune with "another realm."

 

At the archaeological site of Sanxingdui in Sichuan, China, a series of pits have yielded a large number of artifacts, including finds made of bronze, jade, and gold. Among these artifacts is a bronze sculpture of a snake with a human head. Other artifacts discovered at the site include a large number of other artifacts.

 

According to reports from the Xinhua news agency, the finds also include gold masks, a bronze altar, and a bronze casket that contained jade on the interior.

 

According to Zhao Hao, an associate professor at Peking University and the excavation leader at one of the Sanxingdui pits, "The sculptures are very complex and imaginative, reflecting the fairy world imagined by people at that time, and they demonstrate the diversity and richness of Chinese civilization." Xinhua. "The sculptures demonstrate the diversity and richness of Chinese civilization."

 

According to a report by Xinhua, two pits were excavated in the 1980s, and six more pits have been excavated since the year 2020. According to Xinhua, archaeologists have unearthed a total of 13,000 objects, all of which are thought to have been created during the Bronze Age, which occurred between 4,500 and 3,000 years ago.

 

According to Chen Shen, a senior curator at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto, who was interviewed by Live Science, "It's nice to find more" about the freshly unearthed sculptures and artifacts. Shen observed that the initial two pits that were dug up in 1986 yielded objects that were comparable to those found in the latest excavations.

 

Shen has researched the excavations at Sanxingdui and written about the site. In 2002, she organized an exhibition about the area at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). According to Shen, the fact that there is no indication of human burials or cremations having taken place there suggests that the trenches were most likely not used for funeral purposes. Shen speculated that the construction of the pits and the inclusion of the items may have been part of a ceremony.

 

In an email to Live Science, Jay Xu, the director, and CEO of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, stated in an email to Live Science that there is evidence that some of the objects were intentionally broken or burned. Xu, who has conducted extensive research and written extensively about the site, but who was not involved in the recent discoveries, said: "The purposeful breaking and burning of highly valuable materials such as jades and bronzes show us that this was not random or wanton destruction." Xu was not involved in the recent discoveries but has researched and written extensively about the site.

 

According to Xu said, "Bronze was so valuable, especially considering that it could be melted down and reused, that it informs us that the destruction of these representations had an important ritual purpose." " Just as in other human communities, the purpose of breaking and burning objects in rituals is frequently to mark a holy passage or to commune with a world that is not our own. Therefore, it is possible that these burials [of artifacts] were an attempt to steer this culture through crises with advice or help from another domain," added Xu.

 

Rowan Flad, an archaeology professor in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University, concurred with the notion that the individuals who used this location placed a significant emphasis on the importance of ritual destruction. Flad, who was not involved in the recent excavations, told Live Science in an email that he has a "tendency to think" that these pits reflect intentional episodes of ritualized destruction, possibly periodic public destruction of wealth by social, political, or spiritual leaders within the Sanxingdui community. Flad was quoted as saying, "I tend to think that these pits reflect intentional episodes of ritualized destruction."

 

When researchers "are able to have a thorough sense of the objects within the new pits, their processes of disposal, and the relationships among things," as Flad put it, then they will have more information. (At the time of publication, Live Science attempted to get in touch with the archaeological team working at Sanxingdui; however, the scientists did not have the authorization to do an interview.)

Article source : https://www.livescience.com/mysterious-artifacts-hint-at-the-fairy-world-of-ancient-china

Image source  : https://pixabay.com/id/photos/singapura-china-town-warna-warni-811111/

What are some artifacts from ancient China?

What did archaeologists discover in China?

What evidence do archaeologists have about China's history?

What is the oldest Chinese artifact?