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Bronze Age State Metal-Working Center Unearthed Near China’s Yangtse River

Archaeologists at the Shenduntou site near the Yangtze River have unearthed a significant Bronze Age metal-working center dating back to the Zhou dynasty. The excavation, led by Nanjing Normal University, revealed approximately 1,000 artifacts including clay molds, arrowheads, and knives, alongside evidence of furnaces and protective earthen walls. These findings confirm the existence of a high-level workshop dedicated to large-scale bronze production within the ancient Wu kingdom.

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the hunt sanxingdui civilization china

The article recounts the rediscovery and ongoing excavation of the ancient Sanxingdui civilization in Sichuan, China, beginning with a peasant's accidental find of jade relics in 1929. After decades of political disruption, large-scale digs resumed in the 1980s, uncovering over 50,000 artifacts—including distinctive bronze masks with gold foil—that offer the only clues to this Bronze Age city's culture, trade networks, and mysterious collapse around the 11th century B.C.E.