The Sanxingdui bronze pits are found

In July and August 1986 workers at a brickworks near Guanghan in Sichuan, China, accidentally dug into two pits at Sanxingdui, which were full of sacrificial offerings: bronze masks with huge protruding eyes, a 2.6-metre bronze standing figure, a bronze tree nearly four metres tall, gold masks, elephant tusks and jade. They came from the Shu culture of the Chengdu plain, about 1200 to 1000 BC, contemporary with the Shang dynasty, which had been unknown. Their style, completely different from that of the Central Plains, showed that China's early civilisation had several centres. Six more pits found in 2019 to 2022 yielded more treasures.

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