Jade Cong with Sacred Tree Patterns Discovered in Sanxingdui's Pit No.3

A jade cong with sacred tree patterns (K3qw∶236) was unearthed from the burial layer of sacrificial pit No.3 at the Sanxingdui site. It was deposited close to the south wall of pit No.3, next to the bronze kneeling statue holding a zun vessel on its head. Made of tremolite-actinolite, it is a relatively neat square column with a circular hole in the middle. There are no grooves but some engraved decorations on its surface, the depth of which is very shallow. Each outer side of the cong is adorned with string patterns and Qiequ patterns (curved and hooked forms arranged in broad band, which is derived from animal patterns), while on two opposite sides a sacred tree is engraved, which are quite similar to the bronze tree unearthed from Sanxingdui site before. It is supposed that the jade cong was originally a plain one, and it was engraved with ornamentation after a period of circulation and abrasion. As the shape of the jade cong is highly similar to those from the Qijia Culture, it is undoubtedly a product influenced by the culture of Gansu and Qinghai regions, and the possibility that this artifact was originally a product of the Qijia Culture cannot even be ruled out. The sacred tree patterns on the jade cong have distinct characteristics of the Sanxingdui Culture, but the lines are somewhat roughly engraved, which shows that jade cong might not be regarded as a ritual vessel in the Sanxingdui Culture.