Bronze "spirit trees" from the sacrificial pit of Sanxingdui

This article presents a brief review of the most interesting feature of Sanxingdui Bronze Age culture, spread in Sichuan province of the PRC - bronze «spirit trees», found in sacrificial pit JK2. The lines of the technological evolution of the ways of production of those bronze trees are outlined in the article and reconstruction of the way of their possible use in ancient ritual is discussed. All the «spirit trees» consisted of the same parts: foundation, trunk and brunches with flowers and birds sitting on them. According to the authors’ opinion the technological evolution of those bronze trees from Sanxingdui sacrificial pit JK2 can be divided into three stages. Stage I is represented by the bronze foundation from the tree No 3. Stage II is represented by the tree No 2. Stage III is represented by the tree No 1. The tree No 3 consisted of the wooden trunk and brunches, bronze fitting over a wooden foundation and bronze flowers with birds sitting on them. The tree No 2 was assembled from pre-cast bronze details, joined through the rivet-holes with wooden pins or pegs, the joints being later covered with melted bronze. The bronze tubular details of trunk and brunches of the tree No 1 were joined with clutches and muffs cast on the spot. The authors hold the opinion that so-called «small spirit trees» were just the tops of the big ones. No one of the big trees does have a top. No one of the small trees does have a foundation or a long trunk. Each of the small trees can be correlated with the big one. The small tree with tubular brunches was the top of the big tree No 1. The small tree with flat brunches was the top of the big tree No 2. The small tree with twisted brunches was the top of the big tree No 3. The method of fixing of the bronze foundation-fitting on the wooden core of the «spirit tree» No 3 with wooden pins through the small holes in the bronze detail closely resembles the method of fixing of bronze masks of B and D types on the wooden core of huge anthropomorphic sculptures. These types of masks were the earliest in JK2 sacrificial pit. So the three stages of the technological evolution of the «spirit trees» in JK2 could be brought into correlation with the three stages of the technological evolution of the bronze masks from the same sacrificial pit. Almost all researchers unanimously link Sanxingdui «spirit trees» with the East-Asiatic myth about shooting down of extra Suns. One of the hypotheses presumes that a special ritual reproducing this myth has been performed by ancient Sanxingdui inhabitants. It included touching of bronze birds, sitting on the brunches of the big «spirit tree» No 1 with a wooden staff covered with gold foil, that has been found in sacrificial pit JK1. The authors state that the joining of artifacts from two different sacrificial pits is a wrong move. They present a graphic reconstruction of presumable rite, from which it is evident, that the topmost birds of the tree No 1 could not be reached this way.