Sanxingdui's gold scepter is decorated with images of fish, birds, arrows and human figures. Its gold foil is believed to have once covered a wooden core. /CGTN
Sanxingdui's gold scepter is decorated with images of fish, birds, arrows and human figures. Its gold foil is believed to have once covered a wooden core. /CGTN
Sanxingdui's gold scepter is decorated with images of fish, birds, arrows and human figures. Its gold foil is believed to have once covered a wooden core. /CGTN
Sanxingdui's gold scepter is decorated with images of fish, birds, arrows and human figures. Its gold foil is believed to have once covered a wooden core. /CGTN
Sanxingdui's gold scepter is decorated with images of fish, birds, arrows and human figures. Its gold foil is believed to have once covered a wooden core. /CGTN
Sanxingdui's gold scepter is decorated with images of fish, birds, arrows and human figures. Its gold foil is believed to have once covered a wooden core. /CGTN
Sanxingdui's gold scepter is decorated with images of fish, birds, arrows and human figures. Its gold foil is believed to have once covered a wooden core. /CGTN
Sanxingdui's gold scepter is decorated with images of fish, birds, arrows and human figures. Its gold foil is believed to have once covered a wooden core. /CGTN
Fish, birds, arrows and human figures – what story do they tell? These mysterious images appear together on Sanxingdui's famous gold scepter. The surviving gold foil may once have been wrapped around a wooden core, which disappeared over thousands of years. As for the symbols themselves, they may point to clan identities, ancient myths or ideas of political and sacred power. Their exact meaning remains open to interpretation.