A large bronze mythical beast weighing about 150 kilograms was unearthed at the Sanxingdui Ruins site on Wednesday, along with other relics, as archaeologists continued excavations in the site's No. 8 sacrificial pits. So far, around 14,000 items buried for more than 3,000 years have been unearthed from all the sacrificial pits at Sanxingdui.
Full view of the bronze mythical beast. /People.cn
"Since the first excavation at Sanxingdui in 1986, the unearthed mythical beasts have been smaller in size, only about 20 to 30 centimeters long."
Zhao Hao, a team member of the No. 8 pit's excavation, said the bronze mythical beast was enormous. The length and height are about 1 meter, and it is the most complete and the largest animal-shaped bronze unearthed at Sanxingdui.
The bronze statue of a man on the horn of the bronze mythical beast. /People.cn
Unusually, the massive bronze mythical beast has a horn on its head and a bronze statue of a man standing on the horn. The bronze man wears a long robe and has a thin body. Archaeologists speculate that the man might be harnessing or controlling the mythical beast.
A sacred tree was engraved on the surface of the beast's chest. Zhao said this is a new artifact of a type that has never appeared at the Sanxingdui site.
"The tree is engraved directly on it and can be seen as Sanxingdui people's worship of the sacred tree, or has taken the sacred tree as a kind of divine presence," said Zhao.
The extraction work at the No. 8 pit is expected to be completed between late September and early October. The next stage will be laboratory research and cultural relic restoration.