Sanxingdui

30°59′35″N 104°12′00″E / 30.993°N 104.200°E / 30.993; 104.200

Sanxingdui culture
Sanxingdui
Sanxingdui
Sanxingdui
Geographical rangeChengdu Plain
PeriodBronze Age China
Datesc. 1700 – c. 1150 BC
Type siteSanxingdui
Major sitesGuanghan, Deyang
Preceded byBaodun culture
Followed byJinsha
Ba and Shu
Chinese name
Chinese三星堆文化
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinSānxīngduī wénhuà

Sanxingdui (Chinese: 三星堆; pinyin: Sānxīngduī; lit. 'Three Star Mound') is an archaeological site and a major Bronze Age culture in modern Guanghan, Sichuan, China. Largely discovered in 1986, following a preliminary finding in 1927, archaeologists excavated artifacts that radiocarbon dating placed in the 12th-11th centuries BC. The archaeological site is the type site for the Sanxingdui culture that produced these artifacts, archeologists have identified the locale with the ancient kingdom of Shu, which suggests the presence of a unique civilization in this region before the state of Qin conquered the area in 316 BCE. The artifacts are displayed in the Sanxingdui Museum located near the city of Guanghan.

Sanxingdui is on the UNESCO list of tentative World Heritage Sites, along with the Jinsha site and the tombs of boat-shaped coffins.