Sanxingdui Archaeological museum. Shu Kingdom (two hours from Chengdu)

Janet and the famous ritual mask Sanxingdui

Chinese friends from Nanjing my co travelers

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The Man...a priest whom we have come to visit - an awesome place and museum

 The bird figure which prefigures in many bronzes



4000 year old bronze masks are the centerpiece of this museum, which has two buildings of Shu kingdom artefacts. Known for its sacrificial pits, this find remains a mystery to the Chinese.  Jade and the masks are found beneath elephant tusks. 
Rituals and burials determine what we know about these people, who valued most the jade material culture 

My notes:    See MYSTERIES OF ANCIENT CHINA Edited by Dame Jessica Dawson.  Intro by Jessica.  See p 15-18 p 22-23 . "The Sacrificial Pits at Sanxingdui"  22 Standing Figure p 60-63    Essay by Zhao Dianzeng "The Sacrificial Pits at Sanxingdui", p 232-239. Discussed Sanxingdui as a  center of royal and religious power, a ritual centre and a site of pilgrimage.  Contents: "The bronze trees, birds and animals" , the "ritual items", the "bronze human like masks and diamond shaped fittings", the life size bronze figure, bronze heads and figurines', in the Form and Content of the sacrificial pits

I also read "Nomadic Influences in Qin Gold", Orientations, March 2010 which cites, again, Jessica Rawson, and dear Emma Bunker, who discuss the influence on the Qin, by the groups before the area becomes Qin Chinese.