In 1986, local workers accidentally found sacrificial pits containing thousands of gold, bronze, jade, and pottery artefacts that had been broken (perhaps ritually disfigured), burned, and carefully buried. Sanxingdui 三星堆 is a major Bronze Age archaeological find.
National Treasure 国宝
金杖 Gold Sceptre
Gold | The Late Shang Dynasty (1250 B.C. – 1100 B.C.) | Sanxingdui Museum, Excavated from No.1 Sacrificial Pit of Sanxingdui in 1986 金器｜商代晚期 （公元前1250-前1100年）｜三星堆博物馆， 1986年三星堆一号祭祀坑出土
The golden sceptre unearthed in the Sanxingdui sacrificial pit is the largest gold sceptre unearthed in China at the same time. The golden staff was beaten into a wafer thin skin from gold bars, and then rolled on the wooden staff. When it was unearthed, the wooden part of the staff was carbonised (most likely from the burning), and only the gold skin remained, and there was carbonised wood residue left in the gold skin.
At one end of the sceptre, there is a pattern about 46 cm long. The pattern is divided into three groups: one group of symmetrical fish-bird symbols near one end; second group repeated the first group; the third group are some witches or shamans with pointed crowns and triangular earrings, smiling.
What exactly does this pattern represent? At present, there is a view in the academic community that the two tribal alliances with fish and birds as the ancestor gods have formed the fish dynasty; the “fish” and “bird” in the pattern are the emblems and symbols of the Yufu Kingdom 鱼凫王朝.
Another theory is that the fish and bird patterns on the golden stick symbolises the function of heaven and earth, which is the magic weapon of the king of Shu to communicate with God. Of course, this is still inconclusive, and its connotation needs to be further explored.
According to ancient documents, the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties in Central Plains used Ding 鼎 (bronze cauldrons) as the highest symbol of state power. However Sanxingdui culture used sceptres to symbolise power, an example of one of the cultural differences between the ancient Shu and the Central Plains.
In the ancient Greek civilisation, ancient Egyptian civilisation, ancient Babylonian civilisation and other Western Asian civilisations along the Mediterranean coast, sceptres were symbols of the supreme power, e.g. Moses’ rod. Therefore, some experts and scholars speculate that the cultural factor of the golden sceptre came through cultural exchanges or migrants from these regions.
For more Sanxingdui posts, start with Part 1 of the Sanxingdui series.
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About Chinese National Treasure Series
中華國寶系列 Chinese National Treasure series feature specific artefacts and relics from museums all around the world that are historically significant to be considered a National Treasure. The series covers the 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation from Neolithic periods before the Xia dynasty (c. 2070-1600 BC) to modern day.
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