Sanxingdui Museum

The Sanxingdui Museum, 40 km north of Chengdu in Guanghan, houses one of the most spectacular Bronze Age collections in the world. The Sanxingdui civilization (approximately 1200-1000 BC) produced bronze work of a sophistication and strangeness that still puzzles archaeologists: giant anthropomorphic figures, stylised animal masks, and tree sculptures that have no parallel in any other ancient culture.

The museum has been substantially expanded since 2020's new excavations, and a visit takes a good half-day. Take a bus or shared minibus from Chengdu's Zhaojue Temple bus station. The site includes the excavation pits themselves, viewable through glass floors. This is one of China's essential archaeological experiences — more significant, and far less crowded, than most visitors expect.

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A story
In 1986, workers digging an irrigation channel in Guanghan (40 km from Chengdu) hit two pits packed with bronze objects unlike anything previously known from ancient China. Among the finds: enormous bronze standing figures taller than a man, tree-like bronze sculptures with hanging jade pendants, and dozens of those distinctive large-eyed masks that look nothing like anything in Shang or Zhou Chinese art. Excavations resumed in 2020 and yielded yet more extraordinary finds — gold masks, ivory, and bronzes still being conserved and studied.

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