Ancient Culture in Sichuan

　　Ⅰ. Splendor of ancient Shu culture

　　A large number of ancient artifacts are scattered in Sichuan and neighboring areas. Many cultural relics with special features have been unearthed. All the cultural remains have identical style, and represent the single cultural system that dominated the region. Generally, the "Shu culture" is divided into two periods - the early Shu (the period of Xia, Shang, and West Zhou dynasties) and the late Shu (from the period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty).

　　The typical symbol of Shu culture is Sanxingdui. Sanxingdui culture can be divided into four periods. The first belongs to pre-Shu culture, and the second to fourth belong to early Shu culture. The Sanxingdui culture or civilization occurred between 2,800-800 B.C.

　　The "capital cities" of the Shu culture were around the plains of Chengdu. Sanxingdui in Guanghan was one of such cities of ancient Shu. The brilliant craftsmanship and other achievements of Sanxingdui is proof that the ancient Shu reached a high level of civilization.

　　Academic circles divide Sanxingdui culture into four periods. The first period belongs to pre-Shu culture, around the time of the late Neolithic age. The second period is the formation of the Shu culture, around the time of the early Xia and Shang dynasties. The city walls were built at this time. The third is the prosperous period, around the late Shang dynasty, and the fourth was the decline period, around the end of the Shang to the early Zhou Dynasty.

　　Ⅱ. A New Revolution in Ancient China

　　Imagine that archaeologists were to discover evidence of a sophisticated culture whose existence until that point was completely unknown to us. If this scenario sounds implausible, recent discoveries in China demonstrate that we don't know as much as we think we do about the origins of complex human societies.