Archaeological culture · c. 1700–1150 BCE
Sanxingdui culture
The Sanxingdui culture of the Chengdu Plain in Sichuan built a walled city at Sanxingdui and cast extraordinary bronzes, including large heads and masks with bulging eyes and gold-foil faces, quite unlike those of the Shang. It grew out of the earlier Baodun culture and was followed by the Jinsha phase.
Many archaeologists link it to the ancient kingdom of Shu.
See Sanxingdui culture on the map in 1700 BCE
- On the map
- 1700–1150 BCE
How we know
No readable writing has been found; the culture is dated by radiocarbon, and its link to the later kingdom of Shu comes from later texts.
Sites
- Sanxingdui c. 1700–1150 BCE (sacrificial pits 12th–11th centuries BCE)