When the authorities learned about this in the early 1950s, they studied the area.

They found there might once have been a city there. By the 1980s, they had found city walls under the ground. The ancient city was built some 4,000 years ago. It covered 13 sq km. The place was named Sanxingdui.

Mysteries from the past

The discoveries at Sanxingdui were different from the others on the mainland. It was almost as if the people who lived there had a different culture.

In 1986, two big pits were found. Inside were very advanced bronze objects - elaborate masks that almost looked Aztec or Mayan.

Scientists also found piles of elephant tusks.

The tusks were much bigger than those of elephants today. One of the tusks is 1.85 metres long.

The people of Sanxingdui were good at using gold leaf.

They used it to make images of the sun. Some scientists say they were sun-worshippers.

Kingdom of the sun

One of the most amazing findings is of a gold image of the sun with birds flying around. Scientists have also found gold masks. They think perhaps they were worn by priests.

Most ancient findings include oracle bones with primitive Chinese characters on them. There were no orale bones at Sanxingdui. Experts think may be their language was written on some kind of paper that has long decayed.

More discoveries

In 2001, a real estate developer in the countryside of Chengdu found jade and ivory in the ground. The government stopped the development. Scientists began digging and found another city like the one in Sanxingdui.

In traditional Chinese history, civilisation began in the central plains of the Yellow River. But now it seemed there was another group of people in the Sichuan basin. The site is called Jinsha.

When scientists checked the findings, they saw influences from other parts of China and may be even as far away as Vietnam. This made them think people in Sichuan traded with the rest of China and the outside world.

now do this

1 The first discoveries at Sanxingdui were made near ...

a. Chengdu

b. Xian

c. Beijing

2 The Sanxingdui people were likely ...

a. Christian

b. Confucian

c. sun-worshippers

3 The Sanxingdui people were good at working with ...

a. silver

b. gold leaf

c. aluminium

Answers:

November 23

1. b, 2. a, 3. c