Mystery Unveiled The unexpected findings, site identification and large-scale excavation

It all began with a sudden clank when Yan Daocheng, a local farmer in Nanxing town of Guanghan City, some 40 km north to Chengdu, working in the field with his son digging in the ditch with a hoe.

The clash of metal and a stone ring revealed a world-class archaeological site whose excavation lasted for almost a century in the whereabouts with an area of about 20 square kms, which is now known as the Sanxingdui Ruins—literally meaning the Three-star Mounds in Chinese, where a huge amount of relics including ivories, precious stone artifacts and elaborate bronze ware has been unearthed, giving us a glimpse of the brilliant civilization of a mystic kingdom in the land of Sichuan…