“Faces of Sanxingdui” Shed Light on Mysterious Ancient Kingdom“三星堆面孔”展现神秘古国风采

A golden face with patinaed turquoise eyes stares out of the darkness. Illuminated around it stand three other bronze heads—some have flat tops， others round—all looked over by a giant bronze statue almost 9 feet high1. All have the same piercing， angular eyes. There’s something about the “Faces of Sanxingdui”—as this collection of sculptures is being billed—that feels both familiar and alien. They were displayed at the Hong Kong Palace Museum from September 2023 to January 2024. They may appear Mayan or Aztec to the untrained eye， but these over-3，000-year-old sculptures weren’t unearthed anywhere near Mesoamerica’s ancient civilizations. They were discovered on China’s Chengdu Plain， at an archeological dig site called San-xingdui.

露出金面罩的铜锈绿色双眼从黑暗中向外凝视。这件头像的周围立着另外3件由灯光照亮的青铜人头像——有的是平顶，其余的则为圆顶，它们都在一个近9英尺高的大立人铜像的注视之下。青铜人头像和大立人铜像的眼睛都有棱有角、目光锐利。这组被称为“三星堆面孔”的青铜像给人一种既熟悉又陌生的感觉。2023年9月至2024年1月，这组青铜像在香港故宫文化博物馆展出。在外行人眼中，它们看起来像玛雅人或阿兹特克人的文物，但这组有着3000多年历史的青铜像并非出土于中美洲附近的古文明遗址，而是从中国成都平原一个名为“三星堆”的考古现场挖掘出来的。

Thought to be the largest and oldest site left by the Shu kingdom， a civ-ilization in southwestern China once only hinted at in myths and legends， Sanxingdui was not discovered until the 1920s， when a farmer stumbled across objects while digging an irrigation ditch. The site has since been found to contain the ruins of an ancient city made up of residences， sacrificial pits and tombs enclosed by high dirt walls. Archaeologists from the Sanxingdui Museum say the city was established some 4，800 to 2，800 years ago， until it was abandoned around 800 BC for unknown reasons.

三星堆被认为是最大、最古老的古蜀国遗址。古蜀国这个位于中国西南部的文明社会，其存在曾经仅在神话传说中有所暗示。直到20世纪20年代，一位农民在挖灌溉渠时偶然捡到几个物件，人们才发现三星堆。后来，人们在三星堆发现了一座古城的遗迹——这座古城由高高的土墙围起，里面有房屋、祭祀坑和坟墓。三星堆博物馆的考古人员说，古城大约建于4800年到2800年前，在公元前800年左右不知什么原因被遗弃了。

The mysterious and talented Shu

神秘而又技艺超群的古蜀人

The Shu kingdom， which emerged in the Sichuan basin during the Bronze Age， is believed to have developed independently of the Yellow River Valley societies. Its inhabitants created exquisitely crafted bronze， jade， gold and ceramic objects， depicting fantastical beasts， kings， gods and shamans with bulging eyes and enlarged ears. Remarkably， the sculptures predate the Terracotta Army， a collection of earthenware statues depicting the armies of China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang， by at least 1，000 years. Wang Shengyu， a curator at the Hong Kong Palace Museum， said the objects are far more advanced， imaginative， and artistic than those being produced anywhere else in China at that time.

古蜀国于青铜时代出现在四川盆地，被认为是独立于黄河流域社会发展起来的。古蜀人制作的铜器、玉器、金器和陶器工艺精湛，塑造出种种模样离奇的野兽、君王、神和祭司——他们都有鼓起的眼睛和大大的耳朵。令人惊叹的是，古蜀雕像的制作时间比展现秦始皇时期军队的陶制兵马俑还要早至少1000年。香港故宫文化博物馆的策展人王圣雨表示，相比同时期中国其他地方制作的器物，三星堆的要先进得多，也更具想象力和艺术感。

“You can tell that it’s very sculptural and very artsy，” said Wang at the exhib-ition opening， pointing to a roughly 1-foot-tall bronze figure whose fantastical， braided hair extends out to three times the height of its body and， had it not been broken， would stretch much further. “You can imagine how magnificent it was. From above his nose and all the way up， it would’ve been over 4.9 feet tall， according to the fragments archeologists found. The end of the pigtail is on his shoulder.”

王圣雨在展览开幕式上指着一个约1英尺高的青铜人像说：“你能明显看出来，这个铜像颇具雕塑感和艺术性。”这件青铜人像夸张的发辫向上延伸，高度是其身体的3倍，如果没有损坏，还会高得多。“你可以想象原样该有多么壮观。根据考古人员发现的碎片推测，从人像的鼻子上端算起，原本的高度可能超过4.9英尺。发辫的起点在肩膀的位置。”

Little is known about the Shu kingdom other than what’s been discovered on the 1.4-square-mile2 site. There is no evidence of a written Shu language， and historical literature contains scant3 information about its culture other than a handful of myths and legends， including a reference to a Shu king called Can Cong whose eyes were said to have protruded—perhaps explaining why so many of the 13，000 relics recovered from the site feature bulging eyes.

除了从这处1.4平方英里的古城遗址发现的东西外，人们对古蜀国知之甚少。无证据显示古蜀国存在书写文字，史料著作也没有多少关于其文化的记载，只有零星的神话传说。其中一个传说与一位名叫蚕丛的古蜀国王有关，据说他的眼睛是凸起的——也许这一点能说明，从遗址出土的1.3万件文物中，为何有如此之多的物件塑造出鼓起的眼睛。

Since 1986， eight excavated pits at Sanxingdui have yielded giant masks with bulbous， insect-like eyes and protruding ears， mythical creatures with gaping mouths and an almost 13-foot bronze “tree of life” sculpture. All the items were found shattered， burned and buried， leading experts to believe the pits were used for ritual sacrifices. Some have been painstakingly reconstructed by archaeologists. “It took 10 years to reconstruct the tree，” said Wang. That tree was not on show in Hong Kong， as it is considered too precious.

自1986年起，从三星堆8个挖掘坑出土的文物包括巨大的面具（它们都有招风耳和如昆虫那般凸伸的球状眼睛）、张着大嘴的青铜神兽，还有一棵近13英尺高的青铜“生命之树”。所有器物出土时都是支离破碎的，都是用火烧过后才掩埋起来的，因此专家们认为这几个坑是用于祭祀的。考古学家们竭力修复了部分器物。王圣雨说：“修复那棵树用了10年时间。”由于“生命之树”被认为过于珍贵，并未在香港展出。

A continuous civilization

赓续不断的文明

The exhibition placed these items in the context of other ancient civilizations and includes the Shu among the many societies to have existed in the country’s 5，000-year history. According to a press release from organizers， museum and Hong Kong government officials at the opening stressed the “continuity， inventiveness， unity， inclusiveness and emphasis on peace and harmony” of Chinese history.

香港故宫文化博物馆的展览将三星堆文物置于其他古代文明的场景中展示，将古蜀国纳入中国五千年历史里出现的众多社会之中。根据展览主办方发布的一篇新闻稿，香港故宫文化博物馆领导和香港特区政府官员在展览开幕式上着重指出，中国历史“具有连续、创新、统一、包容的特性，注重和平与和谐”。

Henry Tang， chairman of the governing body behind the West Kowloon Cultural District （where the Palace Museum is located）， said in a statement that the district and museum are looking to “promote cultural and artistic exchanges between China and the world， ‘tell China’s story well’， and strengthen the public’s cultural self-confidence.”

唐英年是西九文化区（香港故宫文化博物馆所在地）管理局董事局主席。他在一份报告中说，西九文化区和香港故宫文化博物馆都希望“促进中国与世界的文化艺术交流，‘讲好中国故事’，加强民众的文化自信”。

The Hong Kong Palace Museum said the exhibition was “curated based on academic and archaeological research” and that it reinforces its mission to deepen audiences’ “understanding of the lives and cultures of various regions and ethnic groups as well as exchanges among them in ancient China， which have contributed to the magnificence of China’s civilization and its ‘diversity in unity’ pattern of development.”

香港故宫文化博物馆表示，三星堆展览是“在学术和考古研究的基础上策划的”，并强调其目的在于使观众进一步“了解中国古代不同地区、不同民族的生活和文化以及彼此之间的交流，而这种交流为博大精深的中华文明及其‘多元一体’的发展模式做出了贡献”。

1 1英尺约为0.3米。

2 1.4平方英里约为3.6平方千米。 3 scant欠缺的；不足的。