On the evening of May 4, the special program of “Forge ahead while young - May 4th Youth Day 2021” was broadcast on CCTV-1, CCTV-3,cctv.com, and CBox. SCU made arrangements for Ma Yongchao, a young teacher of the School of Archaeology and Museology, and Guo Zhenxin and Li Zhiyan, the student representatives of 22 members of Sanxingdui excavation team of Sichuan University to talk about the excavation at the Sanxingdui Archaeological Site on CCTV.
Over the past 90 years since the first discovery of the cultural relics at Sanxingdui, generations of SCU archaeologists have worked together with archaeologists from Sichuan province and made great contributions to the exploration and revelation of the ancient Ba-Shu history and civilization. A newly established archaeologist of SCU, Ma Yongchao, who is in charge of No. 5, 6 and 7 pits of Sanxingdui, shared his interesting experiences and findings during the archaeological evacuations at Sanxingdui. He said with great passions that our archaeological evacuations are getting more and more lively and youthful with more students born after 1990 joining in.
On December 11, 2020, SCU's archaeological team arrived at the Sanxingdui Archaeological Site to participate in the excavation of the newly discovered sacrificial pits, and was mainly responsible for the excavation of pits 5, 6 and 7. Smallest in size, pit No. 5 covers an area of only 3.5 square meters. So far, the team has unearthed many pieces of gold ware, more than 60 round gold ornaments with holes, a large number of jade tube beads and ivory ornaments.Up to now, the most eye-catching gold face mask comes from pit No. 5. Additionally, a "wooden case" was found in pit No.6. The case measures 1.5 meters in length and 0.4 meters in width. The inside of the wooden case is coated with cinnabar. However, what is inside the case remains an enigma. The relics have fueled a great deal of speculation in the academic circle. The No. 7 pit is the largest pit that SCU is in charge of. The excavation has not reached the artifacts layer. The excavations of Sanxingdui sacrificial pits are helpful to solve the long-standing academic problems, such as the most basic problems of age and nature. Previously, only two pits were discovered. The number has increased to eight this time. A detailed exploration of the surrounding areas helps to restore the inner space of the "temple" or "sacrificial area" at that time, and provides very important information for a complete understanding of the etiquette space, religious thought of ancient Shu culture.
CCTV, Xinhua News Agency, China News Service, Tencent.com and other mainstream media have reported SCU’s archaeological excavations at the Sanxingdui Archaeological Site many times.
