Nearly every Sanxingdui sculpture was broken and burned before burial—ruling out an enemy raid. Pit contents were carefully layered: small items at bottom, bronzes in the middle, tusks on top. Since late 2019, six new pits were uncovered (eight total). Matching statue pieces were scattered across three pits. Destruction likely occurred around 1100 BC.
Evidence of deliberate ritual destruction across eight pits at Sanxingdui
Key facts
- Nearly every sculpture was broken or burned before burial, ruling out an enemy raid
- Pit contents were deliberately layered: small items (cowrie shells, jade blades, bronze fragments) at bottom, heavy bronzes above, elephant tusks on top
- Burning occurred elsewhere; hot ash and broken metal were brought to the pits
- Starting late 2019, archaeologists identified a soil dip beside the original excavation and uncovered six additional pits, bringing the total to eight rectangular pits aligned in the same direction
- Matching pieces of a single bronze statue were found across three separate pits; one sculpture had a sacred vessel in one pit and its figure in another
- The systematic destruction and burial likely occurred around 1,100 BC; afterward the city ceased being a capital
Site mentioned
Sources
sixthtone.com
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archaeology.org
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artsandculture.google.com
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Sanxingdui - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
The six pits were discovered at the Sanxingdui site between 2020 and 2022 during a renewed slate of excavations. The artifacts found in these excavations
Newly discovered sacrificial pits at the Sanxingdui site - ScienceDirect.comsciencedirect.com
six pits (K3-K8) discovered at Sanxingdui in 2019, More than 17,000 artifacts were recovered from these pits, including bronze, jade, gold, ivory, elephant ...
Sanxingdui Discovery - CGTNcgtn.com
Chinese archaeologists have discovered six new sacrificial pits at the Sanxingdui Ruins in southwest China's Sichuan Province, holding over 500 items dating ...
New Discoveries at Sanxingdui Ruins Shed Light on Chinese Civilizationeastviewpress.com
Archaeologists have found six new sacrificial pits and unearthed more than 500 items dating back about 3,000 years at the Sanxingdui Ruins in Sichuan Province,
Why Was This Ancient Chinese City Abruptly Abandoned? - History.comhistory.com
Between 2020 and 2022, researchers at Sanxingdui excavated six more pits ... New excavations are shedding light on other connections ...
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