On January 31, 2022, CCTV Spring Festival Gala, actor Zhang Guoli and Ran Honglin, director of the Sanxingdui Archaeological Research Institute, released the largest bronze mask excavated from the Sanxingdui site so far, which was visually shocking.
This Sanxingdui bronze mask is 131 cm wide, 71 cm high, 66 cm deep, weighs 131 pounds, and is the largest and well-preserved large bronze mask known to have been excavated from the Sanxingdui site.
Sanxingdui bronze large mask
The large bronze mask was extracted from Pit 3 of the Sanxingdui site on June 23, 2021. After analyzing and studying, archaeologists and cultural relics conservators believe that the mask is made in pieces, casting the face, the back of the cheeks, the eyes, the ears and other parts separately, and then combined into one.
The large bronze mask is wide and broad-fronted, angular, the eyebrows, eyes, lips and other lines are smooth, all protruding from the face, thick and long eyebrows are raised, and there are square perforations on both sides of the mask and in the middle of the forehead, which may be used for fixed purposes.
Many people will wonder, who can wear a large bronze mask that is half a person tall and weighs more than 100 pounds? Could it really be that aliens wear it? Experts and scholars have studied and answered this, and they believe that the role of large bronze masks is to sacrifice items, but they are not worn by the faces of the ancestors, and should be carried by the ancestors to sacrifice. The gold masks found at the Sanxingdui site were worn on the faces of bronze figures, and the gold masks found in the No. 1 and No. 2 pits of Sanxingdui were worn on the faces of bronze figures for sacrifice.
Zhang Guoli said that when he first saw this large bronze mask, he felt trembling, which was exactly the kind of huge shock of three thousand years at a glance, and felt the profundity of Chinese civilization.
Zhang Guoli
Ran Honglin
Ran Honglin said that this large bronze mask is currently known to be the largest bronze mask in the world, with a history of more than 3,000 years. The casting technology and alloy ratio of this large bronze mask belong to the same system as that of Anyang Yin Ruins, reflecting the great influence of the Central Plains culture on the Sanxingdui culture and confirming the historical process of the pluralistic integration of Chinese civilization.
How to ensure the safety of sanxingdui cultural relics on the Spring Festival Gala? It is known that the State Administration of Cultural Relics has investigated the details of safety and security on the spot, guided and supported the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the Sanxingdui Museum and the professional cultural relics transportation and exhibition units, formed a special work class, accurately formulated the cultural relics safety guarantee plan, and carefully organized the implementation of cultural relics protection, transportation, preservation, exhibition operations and other work to ensure the safety of cultural relics.
Dance "Golden Face"
On the stage of this year's Spring Festival Gala, the Sanxingdui creative dance "Golden Face" selected by the Publicity Department of the Deyang Municipal Party Committee also made people shine, making the cultural relics come alive in the story told by the dance.
Drawing inspiration from the Sanxingdui civilization and extracting creative elements, the dance tells a romantic love story in the form of a love double dance and the traversal technique of the movie montage. The program is planned and directed by film director Yu Baimei and choreographed by Yang Liping.
The dancers wear gold masks, which are made from the gold masks unearthed in Sanxingdui as the basic elements, and thus lay out an ancient love story. When the story travels back to today, the heroine returns to the Sanxingdui Museum, and her tears awaken the bronze statue of Sanxingdui, making the cultural relics come alive and continuing the precious emotions of human beings that have remained unchanged for thousands of years.
2021 is the centenary of the birth of modern Chinese archaeology, the shocking bronze mask and creative dance "Golden Face" on the Spring Festival Gala stage is a new spring celebration gift for the centenary of birth, the program not only allows people to see the great charm of the excavation results of the Sanxingdui site, appreciate the brilliant and colorful ancient Chinese bronze civilization, but also lament the profundity of Chinese civilization, but also further enhance the public's understanding of modern archaeology and stimulate cultural self-confidence.