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29 May 2009
Having spent the morning at Luo Dai ancient town, we now headed to the Jinsha Archaeological Site (Jin Sha Yi Zhi, 金沙遗址) (official website here) that was discovered several years ago during construction of some new apartments in Chengdu city. The site houses the dig itself and a museum with artefacts uncovered from the capital of the ancient Shu (蜀) kingdom, whose people lived here at around 1000 BCE. The main dig site is the religous sector of the ancient capital. Some of the amazing things discovered here include large quantities of elephant tusks, evidence that elephants once populated the Sichuan province and probably eventually migrated or went extinct. The next set of interesting artefacts uncovered shows their skill at fashioning jade and gold. For jade they were able to create very thin bracelets and other artefacts. For gold, they could punch interesting patterns on very thin foils of gold, something so impressive that goldsmiths have not been able to exactly replicate it today. In fact, one of the patterned gold foils discovered is now the logo of the Chinese Cultural Heritage Protection (i.e. a domestic UNESCO).
The entrance to the site. Tickets cost RMB 80.
Large version of the Chinese Cultural Heritage Protection logo. This was from a gold foil discovered here which we will see later. Four birds are circling the sun. The ancient kingdom worshipped the sun and birds.
Some nice flowers on the way to the main excavation building
Main excavation site, remains of ancient buildings in the religious sector
They buried many bones and tusks of boars and other animals. Most importantly, large amounts of elephant tusks that have been moved into the exhibition area and preserved.
Heading out of the excavation building and to the museum building. The entire site spans a large peice of land
The museum has lots of cool interactive multimedia devices. Here is a video of a "book" that you can "flip" by moving your hand across the bottom of it.
Pottery, standard stuff
Some gold ornaments and fragments
There are five exhibition halls in the building and the same Four birds circling the Sun pattern is placed on the roof
Preserved elephant tusk, there's a whole lot of them here in individual tanks of fluid
Tortoise shell. I wonder how they got it as Sichuan is far from the Sea. Perhaps they dwelled near some lake.
Small jade ceremonial blades. These are thin and demonstrates their craftsmanship
Jade bangles, some very thin as well
The original gold foil of four birds circling the sun that is now made famous, how did they punch the patterns into such a thin sheet of gold?
The base of a small stand in gold with patterns
A gold mask. A rather unique find in China, it is more commonly used in Egypt or Middle East during that time
A large jade ceremonial blade
After the site, it was a dinner treat from a friend of my uncle's. Sichuan cruisine!
top-bottom-left-right: Gultinous rice around stewed pork rib, Ma La Fish (this one makes your tongue numb), Pumpkin, Diced Chicken, Dessert dumpling, Lotus root stuffed with gultinous rice, duck web
Lotus root stuffed with gultinous rice, sweet and nice
Back at the hotel, had some loquats that are cheap here
We have arrived in Chengdu one day earlier than the rest of the tour group for free and easy time. The rest will be arriving the next day. This leaves us with one more venue we can visit on our own in the morning tomorrow. Without hesitation, I decided to visit Emperor Liu Bei's mausoleum at Wuhou Shrine (Wu Hou Ci, 武侯祠). After all, Chengdu is the capital of the Shu-Han kingdom. It would seem weird not to visit there. The two sites we have visited so far are large, leaving us with aching feet and in need of good sleep.
View the next related post here. Return to the trip index here.
View the next related post here. Return to the trip index here.
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