Listening to Cultural Relics Tell Stories·Decoding Sanxingdui | Sanxingdui Silk: The Splendor of Chinese Civilization That Ashes Can't Conceal for Over 3000 Years Xinhua News Agency 2 days ago · Official Xinhua News Agency Account Follow Silk is one of the most exciting new discoveries in the recent round of archaeological excavations at Sanxingdui. It has been found among the ashes dating back over 3000 years. Since 2020, the China Silk Museum and the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology have collaborated to use small reagent kits to discover silk on more than 40 artifacts from Sanxingdui, including bronze snakes and bronze eye-shaped objects. The silk varieties include brocade, plain silk, and woven fabric. "Brocade is a high-end silk product, and there is also lightweight plain silk that is as thin as smoke and elegant," said Zhou Yang, Deputy Director of the China Silk Museum. Zhou Yang has been deeply involved in the excavation, preservation, and research of silk textiles from Sanxingdui. She explained that most of the cultural relics from the sacrificial pits at Sanxingdui have been burned and possibly soaked in water. Buried underground for thousands of years along with ashes, mud, and other treasures, they have long lost their original "beauty." Based on the immunological principles, the China Silk Museum has developed a low-cost and easy-to-use paper test strip for silk microtrace detection. It can detect silk traces from thousands of years ago in about 15 minutes. In the latest archaeological research at Sanxingdui, it has made significant contributions and found the earliest silk in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
This photo taken on July 26 at the Sanxingdui Museum shows silk under a microscope and extracted samples. (Photo by Wang Xi/Xinhua) "The Shu region is also known as the land of the silkworm." The name of the Shu Kingdom is closely related to silkworms. Most of the ancient legends about sericulture in China are related to the Shu region. The first generation of the ancient Shu king was named Cong, and it is said that he was called the "Green Clothing God" because he wore green clothes and went among the people to promote farming and sericulture. Modern scientific archaeology has confirmed the traces of silk, showing that Sanxingdui is one of the important origins of silk in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, carrying the "genes" and ancient codes of Chinese civilization. Silk is one of the most important symbols of Chinese culture. The discovery of silkworm cocoons at the Yangshao Culture site, tooth-carved silkworms unearthed at the Zhengzhou Shuanghuai Tree site, stone-carved silkworm pupae found at the Shicun site in Xia County, Shanxi Province, and silk ribbons discovered at the Qianshanyang site in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province... all prove that China was the earliest country to domesticate silkworms and produce silk, and it was widely distributed. Silk is closely related to Chinese civilization. Silkworms and mulberry trees have unique significance in the spiritual world of the Chinese people. The small silkworm and the changes it undergoes in its short life trigger ancient Chinese ancestors' contemplation and reflection on major issues such as heaven and earth, and life and death. The "Book of Rites" records: "When the silkworm affairs are completed, the cocoons are measured, and the silk is efficient, in order to provide clothing for the ancestral temple." This illustrates the important role of silk in sacrificial ceremonies. Zhou Yang's research suggests that silk was not easily obtained in the early days, and one important use of silk was for ceremonial attire. The bronze giant standing figure at Sanxingdui is adorned with intricate patterns on the clothing, indicating a scene depicting a leader dressed in "embroidered robes and decorated garments" presiding over a grand ceremony.
This is a silk micrograph taken at the Sanxingdui Museum on July 26. (Photo by Wang Xi/Xinhua) Archaeologists detected a very strong silk fibroin signal in the ash layer of Sanxingdui No. 4 sacrificial pit, indicating that a large amount of silk was burned here. Experts say: Does this indicate another function of silk in the sacrifice, such as burying silk costumes in the ground or burning them with fire, so that the essence of the sacrifice reaches the heavens? Is there some kind of writing on the sacrificial silk clothing, which can provide the possibility of finding the ancient Shu script? ...... One by one, the "password" is left for the future. "The origin of silk is the chapter with the most Chinese characteristics and oriental wisdom, because it contains the unique contribution of Chinese to world civilization, contains original scientific and technological inventions, and contains Chinese's thinking about the life and death of heaven and earth. In the process of the integration of Chinese civilization, silk is a very significant convergence factor, myths and legends, historical records, archaeological discoveries all show that Bashu and the Central Plains adhere to roughly the same knowledge system and value system.said Zhou Yang . (Reporter Wang Ding, Tong Fang) (Translated by anzhitinglan)