Details
Hosted by the Confucius Institute of the University of Aberdeen, refreshments will be provided and there will be time for Q&A and discussion with Professor Zhang after the talk. This talk is free to attend and open to all. Online advance registration is recommended.
In 1986 and 2019-2023, two and six sacrificial pits were excavated successively at the Sanxingdui site in the Chengdu Plain, the upper Yangtze River in China. A large number of bronze figures, human heads, human masks and other figures as well as other bronze, gold, jade objects were unearthed, of which date is equivalent to the late Shang Dynasty. The types and shapes of these objects have never been seen before, and they are believed to be used for sacrifices. This lecture attempts to assume the sacrificial scene by analyzing these figures and other personal images through their appearance, size, and posture, and to reveal the background of why Sanxingdui culture is prosperous.
Speaker: Professor Changping Zhang
Wuhan University, currently visiting fellow at Cambridge University