China - Archaeological Sites of the Ancient Shu State: Site at Jinsha and Joint Tombs of Boat- shaped Coffins in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province; Site of Sanxingdui in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province 29C.BC-5C.BC

Sanxingdui Site: N 30°59′38″, E 104°11′58″ Jinsha Site: N 30°41′01″, E 104°00′41″ Joint Tombs of Boat-shaped Coffins: N 30°40′00″, E 104°03′19″ According to legends and historical records, there was once an ancient state called “Shu” located in the enclosed Sichuan Basin in Southwest China. In 316 B.C., the ancient Shu State was conquered by the Qin State and the ancient Shu culture had been buried under the mainstream Central Plain (Zhongyuan) culture, only leaving a few reign titles mentioned in the later literatures and tales. Thus, the reconstruction of the ancient Shu history and culture is heavily relied on archaeological materials and references. Thanks to the important archaeological findings in the sites of ancient Shu, a unique and fascinating civilization, which was entirely different from the Bronze Civilization of the Yellow River Valley, was gradually revealed. The Archaeological Sites of the Ancient Shu State is an outstanding representative of the Bronze Age Civilization of China, East Asia and even the world. The nominated Archaeological Sites of the Ancient Shu State consists of Sanxingdui Site, Jinsha Site, and the Great Tomb in the Shangye (commerce) Street, and their natural environment in a total heritage area of 611.3 hectares. 1. Sanxingdui Site The Sanxingdui Site is located in the west suburb of Guanghan city, in Sichuan Province. With the ancient city as the core, the site covers an area of 600 hectares. This is a large city site existed for a very long time. It had become the cultural center of Bronze Civilization in Sichuan Basin since around 1800 B.C. The city was enclosed by high earthen city walls in an area of 360 hectares with clear function zoning: taking the east-west direction river across the city as the central line, in the north large palaces were built on the earthen terrace, in the south was the religious area symbolized by sacred temples, while in the northwestern suburb were the tombs. Great changes took place in around 1200 B.C.: temples were buried down and vessels in the temples were damaged and buried, which could be proven by more than 6,000 pieces of valuable cultural relics unearthed from the two sacrificial pits. 2. Jinsha Site Located in the west of Chengdu city, the site covers 11 hectares centering the religious and sacrificial area. The site emerged after Sanxingdui in 1200 B.C. and was abandoned in around 650 B.C. The layout of function zoning is similar to that of Sanxingdui ancient city: a west-east river cuts the site into the south and north parts. The palaces were located in the north part and the religious and sacrificial area were in the south. In the west of these two parts, there were populace’s residential areas and the tombs. The religious and sacrificial area was about 1 hectare where a tall wooden sacrificial building has been revealed and over 6000 valuable cultural relics have been unearthed from more than 60 remains of ritual objects. The excavated cultural relics are surprisingly similar to those from Sanxingdui Site in terms of category and style. A large amount of sacrificial objects are buried under the religious and sacrificial area and needs further protection. 3. Joint Tombs of Boat-shaped Coffins Located in the central part of Chengdu city, the nominated area is about 0.3 hectare centering the tomb. This is a large tomb with 17 coffins of different sizes dated back to 400 B.C. The tomb pit is in rectangular shape measured 30.5 meters long, 20.3 meters wide and 2.5 meters deep. The bottom of the pit is paved by wood slabs bearing a large boat-shaped coffin of the occupant and smaller coffins in other shapes. All coffins are made of single trunks of trees. The largest boat-shaped coffin is 18.8 meters long and 1.5 meters wide and contains a large number of valuable cultural relics. Above the tomb there are magnificent architectures measured 38.5 meters long and 30 meters wide and consisting the front and rear parts. The rear chamber covers the tomb symbolizing the residence of the dead; the front chamber stuck out of the tomb representing the work place of the tomb owner and the ancestral temple for later generations. It is the earliest physical evidence for Chinese mausoleum system known as “temple in the front and residence in the rear”. Around the tomb, several similar large graves are found underground. According to study on unearthed objects, this is a tomb of the royal family of the ancient Shu State. After Shu was conquered by Qin State, the tomb, just like Sanxingdui Site and Jinsha Site, was long forgotten till they were discovered today.