STORY: Over 3,400-yr-old jade, stone "workshop" discovered at China's legendary Sanxingdui Ruins
SHOOTING TIME: Recent footage
DATELINE: July 23, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:21
LOCATION: GUANGHAN, China
CATEGORY: CULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the Sanxingdui Ruins site and its iconic cultural relics
2. various of the jade and stone artifact processing site
3. various of newly found artifacts from the jade and stone artifact processing site
4. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) XU DANYANG, Deputy head of the Sanxingdui site of the Sichuan provincial cultural relics and archaeology research institute

STORYLINE:

Archaeological authorities have recently unveiled groundbreaking discoveries, including a jade and stone artifact "workshop" dating back over 3,400 years, at the legendary Sanxingdui Ruins site.

Discovered in the late 1920s in the city of Guanghan, southwest China's Sichuan Province, the Sanxingdui Ruins have been dubbed as one of the world's greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century.

Covering an area of 12 square km, the ruins are believed to be the remnants of the Shu Kingdom, dating back some 4,500 to 3,000 years. To date, more than 60,000 cultural relics have been unearthed at Sanxingdui.

The provincial cultural relics and archaeology research institute said on Tuesday that, since 2022, over 400 sites have been identified, including high-level building foundations, ash pits, ash ditches, and stone artifacts production and processing sites at Sanxingdui. More than 4,000 artifacts, including pottery, jadeware and stoneware, have been unearthed.
   
Among the notable new finds is a jade and stone artifact processing site, revealing the source of the previously discovered cultural relics there.

Located approximately one kilometer north of the previously unearthed sacrificial pits, this latest discovery marks significant progress in the archaeological excavation at Sanxingdui, the research institute said, noting that the archaeologists have preliminarily identified this site as a jade and stone production workshop.

The newly found artifacts include raw jade and stone materials, waste materials, fragments and finished pieces, suggesting a relatively complete chain of handicrafts.

SOUNDBITE (Chinese) XU DANYANG, Deputy head of the Sanxingdui site of the Sichuan provincial cultural relics and archaeology research institute
"We have been carrying out archaeological excavation at this site since 2022. Until the first half of 2024, we have discovered a series of remains related to the production and processing of jade and stone artifacts, including piles of stone materials, small pieces of agate, and large stone blocks. This is the first production workshop discovered at the Sanxingdui Ruins site."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Guanghan, China.
(XHTV)