Gold Artifact Crafting Techniques, Bronze Painting Processes, Ivory Preservation Methods...
Sanxingdui Announces Multiple Multidisciplinary Research Findings

On September 27, the 2025 Sanxingdui Forum was successfully held in Deyang. At the forum, significant progress in multidisciplinary archaeological research at the Sanxingdui site was announced. In addition to topics of great public interest such as the era of Sanxingdui's sacrificial pits and the casting techniques of bronze artifacts unearthed from the site, significant multidisciplinary research findings were reported across five areas: gold artifact crafting techniques, bronze painting processes, standardized pottery production, rice cultivation methods, and ivory preservation techniques.

The Usage of Approximately Two Kilograms of Gold is Unparalleled over Contemporaneous Chinese Cultures

According to Ma Yanru, former researcher at the Bronze Research Institute of the National Museum, preliminary statistics suggest that the gold used in Sanxingdui artifacts is around two kilograms. Among contemporaneous sites in China, none of them have revealed such extensive use of gold, which indicates that there was a stable gold source for Sanxingdui.

Additionally, research shows that Sanxingdui's gold smelting techniques were considerably mature. Ma Yanru noted that Sanxingdui's gold artifacts, such as gold masks, bird-shaped ornaments, fish-shaped ornaments, and rimmed objects, are mainly found in sheet form. They were shaped through hammering, cutting, and engraving, with surface decorations using incising and chisel carving. In addition, the malleability and ductility of gold and silver is utilized for wrapping and inlaying. This demonstrates that the ancient Shu people had a thorough understanding of the physical properties of silver and gold.

With their diverse forms, these gold artifacts vividly reflect the ancient Shu people's gold worship as a form of "communication between heaven and humanity" and "sacred power". Ma Yanru adds that the "gold metallurgy and processing techniques" of the ancient Shu Kingdom advanced the history of early Chinese gold civilization to the Shang and Zhou dynasties. In terms of gold usage and the complexity of gold artifact craftsmanship, Sanxingdui's gold artifacts represent the peak of precious metal craftsmanship in early China, taking a strong lead over that of other regional civilizations in China during the same period (about 3,000–5,000 years ago).

Extending the History of Chinese Painted Bronze Ware to 3,000 Years Ago

Liu Baige, a postdoctoral researcher at the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, explained that Sanxingdui's painted bronze ware is China's earliest "lacquered bronze artifacts", bringing the emergence of Chinese painted bronze ware to nearly a millennium before it was previously known to have appeared.

According to Liu Baige, we can now confirm that at least 60 bronze artifacts from the No. 3 sacrificial pit of the six newly discovered pits at Sanxingdui adopted painted decorations, mainly in black and red. Red paint is often found in the grooves of intricate patterns on bronze vessels and figures' clothing, as well as the petals of bronze sacred trees. While black paint, which normally appears on bronze figures and masks, is used to depict eyebrows, eyes, hair, and special patterns or symbols. "The discovery of painted bronze ware at Sanxingdui implies that the Sanxingdui ancestors' bronze ware is not merely golden, and maybe their sacrificial activities featured a colorful setting."

Artistically, the use of colors as a primary decoration on the bronze ware serves as a vivid early example of such painting. In terms of craftsmanship, the use of lacquering as a core decorative technique represents the earliest known case of lacquering technique usage in the Sichuan Basin and also the earliest origin of Chengdu's lacquer art.

It has been ascertained that lacquering as a preserved and traditional Chinese technique has a history dating back over 8,000 years to the Neolithic Kuahuqiao culture. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, this technique continued to thrive. The adoption of lacquering techniques on Sanxingdui's painted bronze ware reflects the diverse yet unified development of Chinese civilization.

Rice Agriculture Props up the Sanxingdui Bronze Civilization

Ma Yongchao, associate researcher at Sichuan University's School of History and Culture (Tourism), shared with us that the ancient Shu people's rice cultivation techniques evolved from a "weather-dependent" dryland model to a "meticulous" paddy wetland model. It was exactly this "revolution" that laid a solid agricultural foundation for the prosperity of the Sanxingdui civilization.

As the expert related, during the Baodun culture period which existed approximately 4,500-3,600 years ago, crop cultivation in the Chengdu Plain consisted largely of millet. Although this model was simple, its output was limited. Dams and the ruins of other water conservancy facilities from the late Baodun period, around 3,600 years ago, suggest that the ancient Shu people learned to control floods and even brought in water to irrigate fields. This "cutting-edge technology" became the cornerstone of their agricultural advancement.

"Sufficient food is the foundation for supporting a large social community. Surplus food is able to feed artisans, priests, and nobles who did not directly engage in agriculture, enabling them to focus on casting magnificent bronze ware and organizing large-scale sacrificial activities. Without this 'quiet revolution' in the rice fields, the incredible bronze creations at Sanxingdui might not have existed."

At the Sanxingdui Forum, the progress of research into ivory preservation techniques was also announced. Jiang Luman, associate researcher at the Chengdu Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, stated that thanks to assistance from key technologies including dehydration and reinforcement, waterlogged ivory can now be directly exhibited.

(Photo: Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute)