Name: Exact dating of the sacrificial pits at Sanxingdui site officially released
Uploaded: 2025-09-27T15:20:51+08:00
Duration: PT9.9S
Description: The burial dates of Pits Nos. 3, 4, 6, and 8 have a 95.4 percent probability of falling between 1201 BC and 1012 BC, corresponding to the late Shang Dynasty.

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The latest archaeological research findings were presented at the ongoing 2025 Sanxingdui Forum in Deyang, Sichuan, officially confirming the exact dating of the sacrificial pits at the Sanxingdui Site.

A joint study by the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Peking University, using radiocarbon dating, shows that the burial dates of Pits Nos. 3, 4, 6, and 8 have a 95.4 percent probability of falling between 1201 BC and 1012 BC, corresponding to the late Shang Dynasty.

Ran Honglin, director of the Sanxingdui Archaeological Research Institute under the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, presents new findings on the precise dating of Sanxingdui's sacrificial pits in Sichuan Province, on September 27, 2025. /CGTN

American (second from left) and Greek (second from right) archaeologists visit the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, Sichuan Province, September 26, 2025. /CGTN

A pottery artifact on display at the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, southwest China's Sichuan Province. /CGTN

Visitors attend a special exhibition titled "A Millennium Encounter" featuring Sanxingdui culture, held at the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, Sichuan Province. /CGTN

Additionally, fragments of the same artifacts found in Pits Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8 were identified as matching, further confirming that these pits share the same burial date.

This breakthrough provides crucial evidence for clarifying the dating of the sacrificial pits and constructing a detailed chronological framework for the site, offering new insights into the evolution and history of the Sanxingdui culture.