If Treasures Could Talk: What secrets would the bronze heavenly tree reveal?

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This week, we continue our series "If Treasures Could Talk", showcasing some of China's most valuable ancient treasures. Today, we take a look at a bronze heavenly tree from Sanxingdui in the southwestern Sichuan Province. It sheds some light on the Shu culture thousands of years ago.

You have a new message from an ancient treasure.

The Sanxingdui site in Sichuan has yielded some quite extraordinary archaeological finds. Sadly, in this particular burial pit, 3,000 years ago everything was smashed and burned. This is Pit No. 2, where several hundred broken fragments of bronze have been found. Could piecing them together provide a clue to what catastrophic event might have unfolded here, all those centuries ago?

It took eight years to reassemble the biggest and most complete piece found here. And when it was done, it brought not answers, but more questions. No-one has yet been able to discern its purpose.

It's made of bronze and almost four metres tall. It has a main body and base, but the top is missing. It resembles a great tree, rising from the top of a three-sided mountain. At three levels on the trunk, three branches emerge, each bearing three fruit.

Nine of these fruit point upwards, each with a bird standing on it.

A closer look reveals a dragon at the base of the trunk. It appears to be on the point of taking flight. This tree doesn't seem to belong to this world. It certainly doesn't represent the pragmatic understanding of Nature evident in other bronzeware produced in the State of Shu three thousand years ago. Perhaps it had religious significance, serving as a link between the mortal world and the Heavens.

This religious association is apparently confirmed by another tree, of which only the base has been restored. The symbolism here is even more powerful.

Standing Bronze Figure On each of its three sides there is a kneeling figure. All have had their arms broken off. Other, more complete figures, appear to have been holding something – a zhang, perhaps, or a cong, or some other object used in sacrificial rites.

Many of the bronze artifacts discovered at Sanxingdui reveal how the ancient people of Shu attempted to symbolically link heaven and earth through art.

The bronze artefacts – the trees and others – were probably used in religious ceremonies. Possibly, they were believed to have the power to pass between different times and dimensions.

Many ancient civilizations established a link between birds and the sun. This is seen in this Assyrian image of a winged sun disc above the tree of life.

A winged sun hovers above this tree-like figure, demonstrating that the tree is reaching into the heavens.

Around the world, trees have been seen as symbolic links between heaven and earth. History, civilization, imagination. All are connected. Like the branches on a tree. Standing on earth and touching the heavens, the tree of life became an important ancient symbol.