Bronze vessels from the sacrificial pits of Sanxingdui

This article presents a brief review of the feature that Sanxingdui Bronze Age culture, spread in Sichuan province of the PRC, has much in common with Yinxu culture of the Central Plain - bronze vessels found in sacrificial pits. The lines of the possible evolution of those bronze vessels are outlined in the article and reconstructions of the ways of their everyday use as the details of the interior of ancient temples are given. There are five bronze vessels of four different categories in the first sacrificial pit (JK1): two zun, one bu (pou), one pan plate and one gai lid. In the second sacrificial pit (JK2), at least 12 bronze vessels of only two (or three) categories (excluding gai lids) were met: 8 zun vessels, 4 lei vessels and, perhaps, a hu vessel. Because categories are scarce in Sanxingdui collection of bronze vessels and zun vases are the most numerous among them, the authors propose to divide zun vases from Sanxingdui into two variants: A & B. Zun of A variant has the plain upper part of the base with rectangular holes in it. Zun of B variant has the upper part of the base with two or three lines in relief and cross-shaped holes in it. The differences between zun of A and B variants have no technological or semantic meaning and represent two variants of tradition of casting of those bronze vessels. The development of two variants of zun bronze vessels in Sanxingdui came in parallel and followed the same lines of the typological evolution. According to the authors’ opinion, the typological evolution of bronze vessels from Sanxingdui sacrificial pits can be divided into four stages. Stage I is represented by bronze vessels from the first sacrificial pit (JK1). Zun vase of B variant has vertical protruding ribs, dividing ornamentation belts at the body and the base into three parts, and zun vase of A variant has none. Stage II is represented by zun bronze vessels of I-III types and by lei bronze vessel of I type from the pit JK2. Zun vases of B variant have vertical protruding ribs, dividing ornamentation belts at their bodies and shoulders into three parts, and zun vase of A variant has none. Stage III is represented by zun bronze vessels of V type and by lei bronze vessel of II type from the pit JK2. At stages III and IV one can see the partial fusion of two traditions of casting of zun bronze vessels. Both variants of vases have vertical protruding ribs, dividing ornamentation belts at their bases, bodies and shoulders into three parts (sign of B variant) and holes at their bases are rectangular (sign of A variant). Vertical ribs at the shoulders of vessels are now shaped like sitting birds. Stage IV is represented by zun bronze vessels of IV and V types and by lei bronze vessel of III type from the second pit (JK2). Vertical ribs and bases of vessels are now even higher than at the III stage, and birds at the shoulders are sitting not only on the ribs, but also in the center of bulls’ and rams’ heads cast between them. The authors think that two variants of bronze vessels of the same category at the initial stages of functioning of sacrificial pits presume the existence of two traditions borrowed from the Central Plain and represented by two craftsmen who stood at the cradle of Sanxingdui bronze casting for a number of years. The authors state that bronze vessels in Sanxingdui were used in combination with bronze masks of C type from the sacrificial pit JK2 and bronze heads of A type from the sacrificial pit JK1 as parts of huge anthropomorphic sculptures (with wooden core).