Newly discovered sacrificial pits at the Sanxingdui site: Insights into Bronze Age ritual remains in Southwest China

IF 0.9 2区历史学 0 ARCHAEOLOGY

Archaeological Research in Asia Pub Date : 2025-05-08 DOI:10.1016/j.ara.2025.100621

Honglin Ran , Shiyu Xu , Danyang Xu , Chong Wang , Feihong Xu , Haichao Li , Hao Zhao , Zhenbin Xie , Yu Lei

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Abstract

The Sanxingdui site, located on the Chengdu Plain in Sichuan Province, is a significant Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological site in Southwest China. This paper presents a report and preliminary analysis of six pits (K3-K8) discovered at Sanxingdui in 2019, situated in the eastern part of the sacrificial area near two previously excavated pits (K1−K2) from 1986. The newly uncovered pits are predominantly rectangular, vary in size, and date to the Late Shang period (ca. 1200–1050 BCE). More than 17,000 artifacts were recovered from these pits, including bronze, jade, gold, ivory, elephant tusks, and silk remnants. These artifacts exhibit variations in both style and function. Evidence suggests that all pits can be identified as sacrificial in nature, though the ritual activities associated with K5 and K6 may have been distinct from others. These new findings are crucial for exploring the ritual practices at the Sanxingdui site and for understanding the transition of early political topography on the Chengdu Plain.

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在三星堆遗址新发现的祭祀坑：洞悉中国西南部青铜器时代的仪式遗迹

三星堆遗址位于四川省成都平原，是中国西南部一个重要的新石器时代和青铜时代考古遗址。本文对2019年在三星堆发现的6个坑（K3-K8）进行了报告和初步分析，这些坑位于祭祀区东部，靠近1986年发掘的两个坑（K1−K2）。新发现的坑主要是矩形的，大小不一，可以追溯到商朝晚期（约公元前1200-1050年）。从这些坑中发现了17000多件文物，包括青铜、玉器、黄金、象牙、象牙和丝绸残留物。这些人工制品在风格和功能上都有变化。有证据表明，尽管与K5和K6有关的仪式活动可能与其他活动不同，但所有的坑都可以被确定为祭祀性质。这些新发现对于探索三星堆遗址的仪式实践和了解成都平原早期政治地形的转变具有重要意义。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Archaeological Research in Asia ARCHAEOLOGY-

CiteScore

2.50

自引率

13.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Archaeological Research in Asia presents high quality scholarly research conducted in between the Bosporus and the Pacific on a broad range of archaeological subjects of importance to audiences across Asia and around the world. The journal covers the traditional components of archaeology: placing events and patterns in time and space; analysis of past lifeways; and explanations for cultural processes and change. To this end, the publication will highlight theoretical and methodological advances in studying the past, present new data, and detail patterns that reshape our understanding of it. Archaeological Research in Asia publishes work on the full temporal range of archaeological inquiry from the earliest human presence in Asia with a special emphasis on time periods under-represented in other venues. Journal contributions are of three kinds: articles, case reports and short communications. Full length articles should present synthetic treatments, novel analyses, or theoretical approaches to unresolved issues. Case reports present basic data on subjects that are of broad interest because they represent key sites, sequences, and subjects that figure prominently, or should figure prominently, in how scholars both inside and outside Asia understand the archaeology of cultural and biological change through time. Short communications present new findings (e.g., radiocarbon dates) that are important to the extent that they reaffirm or change the way scholars in Asia and around the world think about Asian cultural or biological history.