Researchers confirm 3,000-year-old Sanxingdui artifact as meteoritic iron

12 Mwezi wa tano, 2026

Imeripotiwa na AI

Chinese researchers have confirmed that iron fragments unearthed at the Sanxingdui Ruins were made of pure meteoritic iron. The three corroded pieces, found in Pit No. 7, likely formed an axe or ceremonial weapon. Carbon dating places the artifact in the late Shang Dynasty.

The Sanxingdui Ruins in southwest China's Sichuan Province are remnants of the ancient Shu Kingdom. The fragments expand the known range of meteoritic iron use from the Yellow River basin to the upper Yangtze River region.

A joint team from Sichuan University and the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted the study. Their findings appeared recently in the journal Archaeological Research in Asia.

Meteoritic iron, a natural iron-nickel alloy from space, held ritual significance before smelting technology emerged. Researchers suggest the Shang Dynasty people viewed it as a gift from the sky and shaped it into a ceremonial object or ritual weapon.

The hardness of the material may also have allowed its use in processing bronze items found in the same sacrificial pits.

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