bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Shi Huang

In the highest-ranking sacrificial pit at Sanxingdui, 11 crimson beads remained undisturbed for 3,000 years among bronze vessels, ivory tusks and fragments of gold.
They are carnelian – a red gemstone prized across the ancient world, from the Indus Valley to the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
In China, however, carnelian was not commonly found in elite burials until the late Western Zhou dynasty (c1046-771BC), with red tones traditionally represented by other minerals, such as ochre and cinnabar.
The long-standing archaeological mystery of its presence in a Bronze Age site within the Sichuan Basin is finally beginning to unfold.


It was previously believed that these beads reached the area through two potential routes: either along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River or through maritime trade networks from South Asia.
Now, the red carnelian found at Sanxingdui has been traced to an entirely different direction: the north, according to a team led by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.
They published their findings on February 2 in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Sanxingdui, in Guanghan, a city in the southwestern province of Sichuan, is a 3,000-year-old Bronze Age site of the ancient Shu civilisation. It is on Unesco’s tentative list for World Heritage designation.
Its eight sacrificial pits contain deliberately broken and burned high-value objects – bronze, ivory, gold, cowries and agate – representing the highest echelon of material culture in its time and offering a rare undisturbed archaeological context.
Some scholars had long held that Sanxingdui’s carnelian beads reached the Sichuan Basin either through the middle Yangtze region or the route known as the Southern Silk Road. This hypothesis has now been overturned.
“We have invested enormous effort in surveying carnelian sources across China and neighbouring regions – Thailand, Mongolia, Bangladesh and India,” said lead author Tang Zihua, associate professor at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“We have now established what is likely the most comprehensive geochemical database for this material in the country,” said Tang, who first shared the findings in September at the Sanxingdui Forum, a conference convened by the province to share research related to the civilisation.
The research team collected 300 geological samples from 27 mineral sources across China, India, Mongolia and Bangladesh to build East Asia’s first large-scale, standardised geochemical reference library for carnelian.
For each sample, they measured 57 trace elements – such as lithium, beryllium, titanium, iron and uranium – to establish a chemical fingerprint.
According to the PNAS paper, the resulting model distinguished four major source regions – South Asia, South China, the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and the Yan Mountains – with the model correctly classifying more than 90 per cent of samples.
“Seven of the 11 beads were clearly identified as originating from the Yan Mountains in northern North China,” Tang said at the forum, according to Sichuan news site Cover News. “Three others point to the Central Asian Orogenic Belt – a vast region stretching from the Greater and Lesser Khingan ranges in Heilongjiang westward across the Mongolian Plateau.”

The team also analysed carnelian beads from other archaeological sites across China. Although they were found in places far away and with radically different cultural contexts, the beads shared the same distinctive “northern fingerprint”.
“This means that as early as 3,000 years ago, the ancient Shu people had already formed stable, enduring channels of material exchange with the distant northern grasslands and the Loess Plateau,” Tang said of Shu trading partners more than 1,600km (1,000 miles) away.
He raised the possibility that by the time the Sanxingdui sacrificial pits were in use, a shared network of material exchange had already emerged – one that transcended regional and cultural boundaries.
A single carnelian bead, unearthed by chance in the Yan Mountains or across the Mongolian Plateau, was collected and traded, and journeyed far.
From an era largely devoid of written records, these red prestige goods function as coordinates flickering on an unlit map, attesting to sustained interaction among distant geopolitical entities.


The beads from the sacrificial pits were crafted far more precisely than those found in the debris of Sanxingdui’s jade workshop.
“I’m increasingly inclined to believe that the sacrificial pit beads were imported as finished products,” he said. “They were brought into Sanxingdui ready-made, used in ritual contexts, and ultimately deposited in the pits.”
Tang added that the geochemical fingerprinting technique developed for this study could be applied elsewhere in the world to determine the origins of other ancient cryptocrystalline quartz artefacts, such as agate and jasper, opening new frontiers for the trace element study of ancient trade networks.


Japanese paper-cutting art inspires flexible brain implants in China

How did a prized red gemstone reach the ancient, mysterious Shu kingdom?

Chinese scientists find path for long-distance quantum communications network

10, 9, 8 ... rocket test puts China neck and neck with US in moon race

Science

A visitor views the “Ancient Shu Civilisation of the Sanxingdui and Jinsha Sites” exhibition at the National Museum of China in Beijing on January 18. A Chinese team says it has solved some mysteries related to crimson beads found in Sanxingdui. Photo: Xinhua

Beads of carnelian – a form of red gem prized across the ancient world – were found in the highest-ranking sacrificial pit at Sanxingdui. Photo: Handout

How did red carnelian reach an ancient kingdom? A study traces Sichuan’s link to the north 3,000 years ago. Photo: Handout

Internal conflict at China’s ancient Sanxingdui led to exodus, destruction: scholar

A treasure trove of exquisite bronze, gold and jade wares were unearthed for the first time at the Sanxingdui site. Photo: Xinhua

Research at the Sanxingdui site in southwestern China suggests an internal conflict spurred a population exodus and destruction of parts of the ancient city. Photo: Handout

An archaeologist works at the No 8 sacrificial pit of the ruins at Sanxingdui on September 2, 2021. Photo: Xinhua

How China’s 5,100-year-old dams challenge Western narratives on despotism

Remote sensing images of early water conservancy projects in China captured by the research team. Photo: Handout

Site drawings of early water conservancy projects identified by researchers in China. Photo: Handout

An aerial view of the Qujialing relics site in Jingmen, central China, including the Xiongjialing Dam, which was initially built around 5,100 years ago. Photo: Xinhua

How ancient Chinese new year cards went from elites’ greetings to bribery instruments

In imperial China, wishing someone a happy new year was anything but casual. Among people of status, it was a highly formal affair, governed by etiquette, hierarchy and a good deal of social anxiety. Photo: Sina

An undated painting shows new year greetings during the Qing dynasty. Photo: Sina

Few people bother with “bainian tie” any more, preferring to give only red packets during Lunar New Year. Photo: Shutterstock

Indonesia’s 68,000-year-old handprint: the birth of human art?

Handprints with sharpened fingertips on a cave wall in the Maros region of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo: Ahdi Agus Oktaviana/Maxime Aubert/AP

Scientist Adhi Agus Oktaviana studies handprints on the walls of a cave in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo: Maxime Aubert/AP

Indonesian scientist Shinatria Adhityatama studies cave art found in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo: Maxime Aubert/AP

The faint image of a hand stencil that has been dated to 67,800 years ago in a limestone cave called Liang Metanduno. Photo: Maxime Aubert/Handout/Reuters

5 of Asia’s overlooked Unesco wonders, in Macau, Bali, South Korea, India and Japan

The lavish stonework and proximity to other landmarks have long drawn tourists to the 17th century Ruins of Saint Paul, in Macau. Photo: Ronan O’Connell

The Dom Pedro V Theatre is a Portuguese jewel in Macau. Photo: Ronan O’Connell

The Goa Gajah Temple stands on the Pakerisan Watershed, home to Bali’s oldest irrigation system. Photo: Ronan O’Connell

The Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, India, were built between the 6th and 9th centuries. Photo: Ronan O’Connell

The Yeongneung Royal Tomb, in Yeoju, South Korea, contains the grave of King Sejong (ruled: 1418-1450). Photo: Shutterstock

The 1,200-year-old, 50-metre-tall Todaiji Temple at Nara, Japan. Photo: Shutterstock

News

China

The presence of the warm, reddish-orange mineral in the Bronze Age archaeological site of Sanxingdui has long puzzled archaeologists


The presence of the warm, reddish-orange mineral in the Bronze Age archaeological site of Sanxingdui has long puzzled archaeologists.


How did a prized red gemstone reach the ancient, mysterious Shu kingdom?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The presence of the warm, reddish-orange mineral in the Bronze Age archaeological site of Sanxingdui has long puzzled archaeologists

The presence of the warm, reddish-orange mineral in the Bronze Age archaeological site of Sanxingdui has long puzzled archaeologists