The Jinsha Village is one of the most important finds for the study of ancient civilizations in this century.
The historical implications of a flourishing, stable, and religious civilization 3,500 years ago—located quite some distance from what was previously held as the origins of Chinese civilization—will keep historians busy for years to come.
Discovered in 2001 by a housing-development company, the site has been yielding amazing works of art and religious symbols every year since, including a gold foil with a ray-emanating sun in the center boasting four flying phoenixes and a 4-meter-high tree with snakes winding their way up the limbs and images of a giant bird on each branch. Jade and gold artifacts closely resembling finds at the Sanxingdui site 40 km away from Chengdu, in the city of Guanghan, reinforce the theory of a powerful kingdom as old as the oldest known anywhere in the world. Historians believe the kingdom to be the remnants of the ancient Shu kingdom mentioned in the stories of the Han and Qin Dynasties 3,000 years ago.
The sophisticated craftsmanship of the jade and gold artifacts and the presence of copper, tin, bronze, and ivory—all non-indigenous resources—point toward a complex society involved in long-distance trade with other societies as far away as the Yellow River to the north and modern-day Thailand to the south. The discovery of several relics with obvious religious significance both at Jinsha and at Sanxingdui have led historians and amateurs to float all sorts of theories as to the origins of the Jinsha kingdom.
The representative jade heads with stretched faces and elongated, pointy ears, found at both sites, could be from Southeast Asia, Central Asia, or, as more speculative rumors would have it, aliens. Sun and tree worship are widespread throughout contemporary societies, especially in ancient Mesopotamia, and trade in ivory both for the luxurious tastes of an upper class and for the sacraments of the priestly class has precedent in Southeast Asia, Mesopotamia, and Africa.
Many of the artifacts are also unfinished, leading researchers to believe that this site was not only a political and spiritual center of the ancient Shu Kingdom, but also a workshop, lending further credibility to the theory of an interconnected trading network spanning across modern-day China and beyond.
Chengdu’s written history as a city goes back more than 2,000 years, to Zhang Yi, a descendant of an aristocratic family during the Wei Dynasty Period who helped construct the city during the Warring States Period (475 to 221 B.C.). Now historians are realizing that this location has been an important center in this region for thousands of years.
The origins of the ancient Shu are still unclear, but what is certain is that the kingdom suddenly fell roughly 3,000 years ago and wasn’t seen again until the 20th century. According to most historians, the most likely reason is due to conflict with outside forces, and not to natural disaster or disease, which are other likely causes for the demise of ancient civilizations.
Mr. Jiang Zhanghua of the Chengdu Historical Relics and Archaeological Research Institute has devoted the past 20 years to research into the ancient Shu kingdom, amassing a collection of literature and pictures that paint an increasingly clear picture of Sichuan’s ancestors.
Burial pits found at Jinsha, similar to the ones found at Sanxingdui in 1985, unearthed tusks, antlers, and teeth from some 500 elephants, 1,000 deer, and 1,500 boars. Dozens of carved jade, gold, stone, and ivory artifacts also found in the pits confirm that a memorable ceremony took place here deep in antiquity, perhaps celebrating a new year, perhaps a eulogy to a dead king or a religious rite to ensure continued prosperity. Jiang has catalogued the findings and can only make an educated guess as to the inner workings of the ancient Shu.
He theorizes that the Sanxingdui culture fell as the Jinsha kingdom rose, implying a disaster of some sort at the older site and a flux of survivors and others to the younger site at Jinsha.
The Chengdu Archaeological Team and historians from Beijing University as well as other parts of the country spent years gathering evidence and overseeing digs in the Jinsha area while the municipal government began construction on the massive museum complex built to rival the terracotta warrior museum built around China’s other famous discovery of the 20th century, the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang in Xi’an.
Chengdu’s history continues to unravel before historians’ eyes, with further findings by development and construction companies—such as the Spring and Autumn Period Shu Kingdom burial site near Fangchi Street—adding new and tantalizing knowledge while posing an increasing number of exciting questions.
The significance for the entire nation is not to be underestimated. China has been traditionally considered a relatively homogeneous society with origins in the Yellow River Delta. Chengdu’s historical contributions to Chinese society re-write the history books and also give Chinese another angle from which to view their own identity—multi-ethnic, rich, and dynamic.