The ongoing excavation of the Sanxingdui site in Sichuan, China, has yielded another extraordinary find: a five-foot-long 'Bronze Dragon-Headed Staff' encrusted with microscopic silk residue. The artifact, found in the newly designated Tenth Ritual Pit, features a dragon with bulging eyes and feathered ears, characteristic of the unique artistic style of the Shu State. The presence of silk suggests the staff was once wrapped in sacred textiles or used in a high-status ritual performance involving silk banners.
Archaeologists from the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics believe the staff was a symbol of political and religious authority, possibly held by a shaman or king during ancestral worship ceremonies. The discovery further reinforces the idea that Sanxingdui was a major center for bronze casting and silk production that rivaled the contemporary Shang Dynasty in central China. Laboratory analysis of the silk residue is expected to reveal the dyeing techniques used by this enigmatic civilization nearly 3,000 years ago.