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Thread: Bronze Age civilization that flourished in China mysteriously disappeared

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    United States Avalon Member Skywizard's Avatar
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    Default Bronze Age civilization that flourished in China mysteriously disappeared


    Sanxingdui excavation pit, Sichuan Province, China

    Sanxingdui was a Bronze Age civilization that flourished in China’s fertile Sichuan Basin for several hundred years before mysteriously disappearing around 1100 or 1200 B.C. Around the same time, a similar civilization sprang up in Jinsha, some 30 miles from Sanxingdui. Experts generally accept that the Jinsha civilization is a continuation of the Sanxingdui culture, but have been puzzled by what prompted the move. War? Floods? Now, a Chinese scientist has argued that the actual cause was a massive earthquake that led to a landslide that diverted Sanxingdui’s primary water source so that it flowed past Jinsha instead.

    Much of what is known about Sanxingdui civilization comes from two pits dating to around the time of its disappearance. The pits contained hundreds of jade, bronze, and ivory objects that had been ritually broken or burned and then buried, and their discovery in 1986 shook up the world of Chinese archaeology.

    Although some jade and stone artifacts had been found in the area in 1929, experts had thought that sophisticated Chinese civilization at the time was centered along the Yellow River in the distant Central Plains region. But the pits, which yielded expertly worked bronze items, including several giant masks with strangely distorted features, made clear that the Sanxingdui civilization was quite advanced as well. In 2001, the Jinsha site, discovered within the modern-day provincial capital of Chengdu, was found to contain bronze items that share a similar artistic vocabulary.


    Sanxingdui bronze mask

    Niannian Fan, a scientist specializing in rivers at Sichuan University in Chengdu, says his interest in the Sanxingdui-Jinsha puzzle was first piqued when he noticed that the ravines and beds holding a number of waterways leading to and passing the Sanxingdui site were much wider than their current rate of flow would suggest. It seems they had once held much larger rivers. After the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Fan hypothesized that another massive earthquake had struck the same area more than 3,000 years ago, causing a landslide high in the mountains that changed the course of the Minjiang River.

    “The earthquake would not have destroyed Sanxingdui directly,” says Fan. “But the water level in Sanxingdui would have decreased sharply just one or two days after the earthquake.”

    Fan has gathered preliminary evidence to back up his hypothesis. Using Google Earth, he found that a stretch of mountainous terrain through which the old river would have flowed on its way to Sanxingdui lacks signs of glacial erosion that should be present, suggesting that this section may have been covered up by a landslide. In addition, he notes, an ancient text records that an earthquake occurred in 1099 B.C. in the capital of the Zhou Dynasty in Shaanxi Province. This is around 300 miles from what he presumes to have been the quake’s epicenter, but its magnitude would have ensured it was felt there. (Neither the Sanxingdui nor the Jinsha civilization left any written records.)


    Sanxingdui bronze head with gold mask

    Agnes Hsu-Tang, an archaeologist and host of the “Mysteries of China” series on History Channel Asia, believes that Fan’s hypothesis “is the most rational explanation [for the move from Sanxingdui to Jinsha] I have heard up to this point.”

    Still, the earthquake and landslide hypothesis can’t explain why the broken and burnt objects were thrown into the pits at Sanxingdui around the time the site was abandoned. “These sacrificial pits might not have anything to do with the fleeing, but may have been a sacrificial ritual carried out regardless of the natural disaster,” says Hsu-Tang. “There is evidence suggesting that they did not do it in a hurry, that it was very deliberate, and that the objects were not meant to be recovered. And that’s what remains so mysterious.”



    Source: http://www.archaeology.org/issues/16...i-civilization



    peace...
    ~~ One foot in the Ancient World and the other in the Now ~~

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    Default Re: Bronze Age civilization that flourished in China mysteriously disappeared

    One of the most fascinating threads today here Sky!

    Here's some interesting stuff:

    Quote Part Six.
    Egypto-Phoenicians in the Pacific.

    Chapter Thirty Six.
    New Zealand’s Unknown Bronze-Age History

    When humans first settled New Zealand is a contentious issue among historians concerned with the beginnings of Pacific Islands colonisation.

    Conservative historians usually claim that New Zealand was first settled by Polynesians around 1000-950 AD. The first of these colonists were the Moriori, to be followed by the Maoris who, once they had become established in these islands, set about ruthlessly exterminating their hosts!

    Yet evidence increases to show that there were far earlier Stone-Age inhabitants who were present here in early Pleistocene times, principally Homo erectus. This evidence is discussed in “Pyramids in the Pacific – The Unwritten History of Australia” [URU Publications 2000].

    Even the discovery and exploration of these islands by Europeans, which supposedly began with Abel Tasman in December 1642, has become the subject of serious questioning; for it is certain that New Zealand was, like Australia, a land known to the maritime civilisations of the ancient world.

    Extensive megalithic stoneworks lie scattered throughout New Zealand, the work of a bygone race who have left their engraved script upon many of them, the Uru. Yet there are other, much later megalithic monuments and extensive traces of ancient mining operations which , belonging to Bronze-Age times, repeat the same old pattern found throughout Australia and the Pacific Islands beyond New Zealand, that of peoples who sailed here from the land of the Nile, Canaan and Iberia. It is to this evidence that we now turn
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali%CA%BBi

    Quote Aliʻi
    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    For the plant known as a'ali'i or aalii, see Dodonaea viscosa.
    Aliʻi is a word in some Polynesian languages denoting chiefly status in the Hawaiian Islands and the Samoa Islands. A similar word with the same concept is found in other Polynesian societies.[1] In the Cook Islands, an ariki is a high chief and the House of Ariki is a parliamentary house (with very limited power). In New Zealand a Māori ariki held a rank of nobility and the Maori monarch held the title Te Arikinui (Great Chief) similar to Ke Aliʻi Nui in Hawaiian. In Tokelau, the term aliki denotes a chief, on Easter Island a noble was ariki, in Tonga eiki, in the Marquesas Islands aiki and hakaiki, in the Gambier Islands akariki, and in Tahiti the term is ari'i.[2][3]

    In Samoa, ali'i is a chiefly rank in the fa'amatai system which lies at the heart of the culture's socio-political organisation[4] and similar to the traditional system in Hawaii.

    Hawaiian aliʻi[edit]
    In ancient Hawaiian society, aliʻi was a hereditary chiefly or noble rank (social class or caste).[5] The aliʻi class consisted of the high and lesser chiefs of the various realms in the islands. They governed with divine power called mana.[6] The aliʻi were the highest class, ranking above both kahuna (priests) and makaʻāinana (commoners).

    Most common translations are "Chief" and "High Chief."

    Description[edit]
    All the aliʻi Hawaiian dynasties of the several islands were interrelated, and apparently forbidden to intermarry with other classes.

    Aliʻi were full of mana and could place and remove kapu (curse or taboo) on objects. Aliʻi continued to rule the Hawaiian islands until 1893 when Queen Liliʻuokalani was overthrown by coup and the Constitutional Monarchy, Government, and supporting Aliʻi were deposed from power.

    Aliʻi Nui were ruling chiefs (in Hawaiian, nui means grand, great, or supreme.[7]) and must claim parentage at least of a mother of the highest rank.

    Alii is also a term that means hello in Palauan Language.

    Titles[edit]
    Aliʻi nui were supreme high chiefs of an island and no others were above them. The four largest Hawaiian islands (Hawaiʻi proper, Maui, Kauaʻi, and Oʻahu) were usually ruled each by their own aliʻi nui. Molokaʻi also had a line of island kings, but was later subjected to the superior power of nearby Maui and Oʻahu during the 17th and 18th centuries. Mōʻī was a special title for the highest chief of the island of Maui. Later, the title was used for all kings of the Hawaiian Islands and the Hawaiian monarchs.
    Aliʻi ʻAimoku were subordinate district aliʻi, but controlled their petty fiefs. But these petty fiefs could sometimes encompass one-sixth of an island, since the islands were usually divided into six districts. These feudal lords were aliʻi nui of their district and were styled as "Aliʻi-o-Name of District".
    http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../ln/ln15p.html

    Posted on: Monday, March 14, 2005

    Battle begins over burial artifacts

    By Vicki Viotti
    Advertiser Staff Writer

    Quote For their part, hui supporters said these objects are not the property of the general public but of the specific ancestor who owned them in life

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    Default Re: Bronze Age civilization that flourished in China mysteriously disappeared

    Skywizard, always posting the most interesting archeological news.
    "When you've seen beyond yourself, then you may find, peace of mind is waiting there." ~ George Harrison

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    Default Re: Bronze Age civilization that flourished in China mysteriously disappeared

    For introduction,please read Skywizard OP.

    This 3,000-year-old Chinese civilization had alien masks!
    (27:38 min.)


    Mar 20, 2021
    China announces new major discoveries at Sanxingdui Ruins
    (12:45 min.)


    Mar 21, 2021
    Live: Further revelations from newly-excavated Sanxingdui Ruins in SW China
    (1:14:30 hrs.)
    "Chinese archaeologists make new big discoveries at the Sanxingdui Ruins site in southwestern China's Sichuan Province. Hundreds of important cultural items are excavated from four of the six new sacrificial pits, including gold masks, gold foil, bronze trees and ivories. New rounds of archaeological work are now underway. Archaeologists use modern technologies to reveal further details of the relics. Follow CGTN's coverage on "China's Archaeological Missing Link" to learn more. #SanxingduiDiscovery"
    "Your planet is forbidden for an open visit - extremely aggressive social environment,despite almost perfect climatic conditions.Almost 4 billion violent deaths for the last 5000 years and about 15000 major military conflicts in the same period."

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    Default Re: Bronze Age civilization that flourished in China mysteriously disappeared

    I'm a little creeped out by those masks!

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