Peasants find bronzes from ancient Chinese culture

Press, 5 March 1988, Page 32

Peasants find bronzes from ancient Chinese culture

By

GUY DINMORE

NZPA-Reuter Three Stars Mound village, China Standing n a cabbage patch, Cherl Dean pointed proudly to :he spot where peasants c Electing earth made one of China's most spectacular historical discoveries. . Far from the ancient cradle of Chinese civilisation alonf* the northern Yellow Riyer, archaeologists uneaijthed a cache of bronze, gold, jade and ivory believed to belong to a southern culture which flourished 3400 years ago} “We were so excited we worked for four days and nights without sleeping,” said Chen, the excavation leader. ( Most remarkable of their discoveries was a life-size statue in bronze of a figure wearing a crown and standing on a pedestal cast in the shape of four stylised elephants’ . heads. Apparently smiling, the priest-likfe figure is dressed in an exquisitely patterned gown. His arms are raised and huge fingers seem to entwine something long since missing. The entire piece stands 2.6 m high and in spite of its age was found broken, perhaps ceremonially, into just two pieces. Equally mysterious and unknown in Chinese archaeological history is a giant bronze mask with a sweeping grin, long, protrading} e y e ' ba ”® A wSgHike ears which give-

city began in 1931 under an American archaeologist who worked at Chengdu's Huaxi University. The pits were not found until the summer of 1986 and Chen said this reporter and his wife were the first foreigners to be given permission to visit the site. ■ Because of “rules,” we -were not; allowed to take photographs of the cabbages and wheat which] now cover the filled-in] pits nor see any parts of] the city which had beep excavated. I Restorers are still put--ting together the 700 or so it a meter-wide span. A sceptre, a small tiger and masks in gold, ele--phant tusks, bronze heads and figures, and ceremoinial jade daggers were among 700 objects recovered from two large pits. The pits were dug just outside the walls of a city believed by some archaeologists to have been the centre of a southern culture known as the Shu which died out about 3000 years ago after reignihg for a thousand years. Today, the city is a scattered village called Three I Stans .Mound, so named after the remains of the; giant walls whith, along (one stretch, look like three small hills. About 40km from Chengdu, the capital of the south-western province of I Sichuan, this stretch of small fields and two winding rivers is an archaeological treasure i trove. First excavation of the

objects but we could only view 20 pieces which have been completed, including the statue and mask which are nowstored in a closed room in Chengdu Museum after a brief exhibition in Peking. Embarrassed local officials and archaeologists dodged questions on why foreign experts could not' help their Chinese colleagues work on the enormous project of resto! ration and further excavation. "It is up to the Ministry of Culture ... We welcome foreign archaeologists," Li Xianwen, Deputy Chief of Relics in Sichuan Province, said finally. "It is not a secret.” "We want to have unified comment,” Li said, adding that academic debate among Chinese researchers was permissible.

Frustrated Western experts, who have read accounts of the discovery in specialist Chinese periodicals, say it is the most exciting since the early 1970 s when peasants, again by chance, found the now famous terracotta warriors of Xian, which were buried with China's first emperor 2200 years ago. The Shu bronzes were thin and delicately cast using a high level of technology, said Chen. )

While some of the features find echoes in bronzes from the contemporary Shang dynasty Civilisation up by the Yellow River, the statue and the mask with its prominent nose and bulging eyes

are unique and point to an, advanced culture of separate origins. "It has raised a lot of questions about the) origin of Sichuan culture-” said Zhao Dianzeng, director of the province's archaeological research bureau. The accepted ; theory among Chinese archaeologists was that the two holes containing the finds were "sacrificial pits". No. 1 pit measured 4.5 m by 3.3 m and Had three trenches leading into it.

It seems ceremonial objects in jade were poured first into the pit, follow-ed by bronzes then ivory and pottery. All : had been burned before the ritual and were finally covered by a thin layer of crushed animal bones.

Earth was stamped down on top to a depth of about 1.5 m. No. 2 pit was slightly longer and thinner and contained the most exciting finds, including the statue.

Some Western historians are not so convinced by the sacrifice theory.

"By the sound of it, these are storage pits containing plunder collected during military excursions

... but so far there has been too much guesswork,” . an Australian National University art historian, Noel Barnard, was quoted as,‘saying after he saw a few of the pieces. } i

He added,; "Until the (authorities) cut away the barriers they l are putting around themselves and work with t/utsideij, we will never know.” i)