Chinese farmers recreate Bronze Age gold mask on rice fields spanning 75 football pitches
- Farmers planted three types of rice to ‘paint’ living replica of gold mask unearthed at massive site in Sichuan province earlier this year
- More recent findings in Sanxingdui include 500 artefacts and another golden mask
A huge dig in southwestern China earlier this year unearthed hundreds of artefacts from more than 3,000 years ago, including a gold mask that may have been worn by a priest.
In March, archaeologists revealed the discovery of a broken gold mask, possibly worn by a priest, along with more than 500 other artefacts at Sanxingdui, or “Three Star Mound”, one of China’s most important archaeological sites.
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Ancient Sanxingdui culture challenges traditional narrative of Chinese civilisation
Farmers in Shanglin village in Jingyu town, about 20km (12.4 miles) from the Sanxingdui site, created the mask pattern by planting three types of rice – yellow, purple and green, Red Star News, an online outlet under the Chengdu Economic Daily, reported on Thursday.
The 50-acre mask design, accompanied by a series of mysterious symbols, was “painted” on a 100-acre field, the size of about 75 football pitches, just in time for the Mid-Autumn Festival harvest season.
Wang Mingjun, the Communist Party secretary of Shanglin village, told Red Star News that around 100 villagers were involved in planting the rice for the enormous agricultural artwork.