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Lost kingdom of Sun found

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Bee Cha
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« on: July 22, 2007, 01:04:44 am »

Experts are flabbergasted by the ancient people''s skill in making gold artefacts. Two relics in particular showcase their technical prowess.

One is a round foil bearing images of the Sun and of four flying birds. The gold foil is only about 0.02 cm thick, the width of a piece of paper, 12.5 cm in diameter and 94 percent pure. Some people have speculated that the twelve lights around the Sun represent the twelve months and the four flying birds the four seasons. "It''s just speculation. No one can say for sure what the pictures really mean," Zhu said, "but we do know that the ancient kingdom worshipped the Sun and birds."

Others have said that ancient Chinese may have believed that the Sun is carried from east to west on the backs of birds. The sun and birds appear on many Jinsha relics. The piece, dubbed the Sun and the Immortal Birds, has since become a logo for Chinese cultural heritage protection.

Another important piece of gold ware is a gold mask, discovered in February 2007. The mask was probably worn by sorcerers who communicated with divine forces.

It is 19.5 cm wide, 11 cm long, 0.04 cm thick and weighs 46 grams.
Gold masks were not common in China at that time, but widely used in Egypt and the Middle East.

"Some foreign visitors said the mask reminded them of people in their countries," said Zhao Bisong, a local Jinsha villager and now a security worker at the museum. "It''s humbling to realize that our ancestors were able to make such vivid and striking things."

"The similarity in facial features provides clues about exchanges between the Shu Kingdom and areas in western Asia," Zhu said. Elephant tusks

Sichuan is known for pandas rather than elephants but, despite this, literally tons of elephant tusks have been extracted from the site.

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