The ongoing excavation of the Sanxingdui site in China’s Sichuan province has yielded its most startling find yet: a jade-studded bronze ritual mask dating back 3,000 years. The jade used in the mask has been geochemically traced to the Himalayan foothills, suggesting that the Shu civilization had direct trade links with the Indian subcontinent much earlier than previously believed.
The mask features an exaggerated, elongated design characteristic of the Sanxingdui culture but with unique decorative motifs that share similarities with early Vedic ritual objects. This discovery is expected to spark intense debate among historians regarding the early trans-Himalayan exchange of art and religion.