Zoomorphic images on the bronzes of Sanxingdui (adapted from material from the sacrificial pit № 1)

The article deals with animal images from the first sacrificial pit (JK1) of Bronze Age Sanxingdui site from Sichuan province of the PRC. There are two high relieves on bronze vessels and three round sculptures. The personages depicted are principally the same - tigers and dragons, but the manner of rendering them differ greatly on bronze vessels and in round sculpture. On the surface of the vessel tigers and dragons dominate over human figures, and in round sculpture they were mostly used as foots or supports for some long non-metal items. In Sanxingdui sacrificial pit JK1 16 human images (13 bronze heads, two masks and one kneeling figure) have been found or three times more, than animal images. So we may assume that in Sanxingdui culture human beings dominated over animals, in Yinxu culture of the Central Plain - vice versa. And the bronze vessels in the first sacrificial pit of Sanxingdui were imported from the Central Plain or made after the Central Plain patterns.