Bronze birds from the sacrificial pit of Sanxingdui

This article presents a brief review of one of the most interesting features of Sanxingdui Bronze Age culture, spread in Sichuan province of the PRC - bronze birds, found in sacrificial pit JK2. The possible classification of bronze birds from Sanxingdui, their division into groups and the relative chronology of the isolated groups are discussed. There are no bird images in the early sacrificial pit JK1. All the bronze images of birds from the sacrificial pit JK2 can be united into several groups: 1) birds with long straight beak and luxuriant crest (type A, type B and the bird on the shoulder of zun vessel); 2) birds of prey with hooked beak and short crest (type C, birds from «big spirit trees», F type bell and the large bronze head of the bird of prey); 3) birds with curved beak and fluffy feathers (type D, type E, birds sitting on the flowers and bird-shaped ornaments of A and B types); 4) birds «with human face» («small spirit tree» with twisted brunches and «heavenly chamber» of the «sacred altar»). Outside the isolated groups is the realistic image of a rooster. Almost all the figurines of birds were originally parts of bigger items. Type A bird whose legs are broken off matches the conical foundation in the form of chairman's bell, on the top of which its talons have remained. The birds of prey with hooked beak and short crest were all fixed on branches of «big spirit trees» No. 1 & No. 2 (type C bird is just the broken off head of one of them) and the large bronze head of the bird of prey was a fitting, fixed with pins or pegs on a wooden core of a huge sculpture. Small birds with curved beak and fluffy feathers, sitting on the flowers, were bronze details of the «spirit tree» No. 3 with wooden trunk and brunches. Birds «with human faces» were used in the same way. The birds of Sanxingdui with long straight beak and luxuriant crest are the most numerous. They have marked vertical protruding ribs at the shoulders of zun bronze vessels at stage III of their evolution. At stage IV the birds at the shoulders are sitting not only on the ribs, but also in the center of bulls' and rams' heads cast between them. At stage IV of evolution of vessels the birds were also placed on the shoulders of lei bronze vases. For casting zun vessels ancient craftsmen have used three-sectional molds, and for lei vases four-sectional molds. It means that at stage III every zun vessel was decorated with three birds, and at stage IV - with six. Every lei vase had four birds. Judging by the relative chronology of items on which different groups of birds from Sanxingdui were fixed, the birds with curved beak and fluffy feathers and the birds «with human face» are earlier, than the birds of prey with hooked beak and short crest and the birds with long straight beak and luxuriant crest.