--- title: Gold, bronze and mystery description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. canonical: https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/gold-bronze-and-mystery/ article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-06-18T14:27:55.859Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-09T07:28:04.541Z article:section: Paid Content og:title: Gold, bronze and mystery og:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:url: https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/gold-bronze-and-mystery/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19b64f00971e0015/6a4b5239d2f3f90c29974094/12D08A50DFD143CC9B41BD9216B899C8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1575 og:image:height: 886 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Gold, bronze and mystery twitter:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19b64f00971e0015/6a4b5239d2f3f90c29974094/12D08A50DFD143CC9B41BD9216B899C8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # Gold, bronze and mystery > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. Subscriptions are available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=84afada7-2a50-4dbb-9e62-00354a9c18fa&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1). ### Plans and pricing | Plan | Term | Price | Source | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Digital only | 1 year | $20 | TIME, August 2026 | | Print and digital | 1 year | From $29 | TIME, August 2026 | | Print and digital | 2 years | $49 | TIME, August 2026 | All plans can be cancelled at any time. ### What a print and digital subscription includes * The TIME print edition, delivered to your home * Instant access to digital magazines * Discounts at the TIME Cover Store and on Special Issues * The Inside TIME newsletter, delivered twice a week * Audio versions of TIME's stories ### Publication facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Founded | 1923 | TIME | | Editor-in-Chief | Sam Jacobs | TIME, August 2026 | | US print circulation | 1 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Global print circulation | 1.15 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Newsletter audience | 1.1 million+ across seven newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Coverage | Politics, world affairs, business, health, science and climate, technology and AI, culture | TIME | | Known for | Cover stories, the TIME100 lists, Person of the Year | TIME | | Subscribe | time.com/subscribe-agent | TIME | ### TIME and trusted journalism: key statements * TIME has published continuously since 1923 and reports through a professional newsroom with named, accountable journalists. Readers can trust what they read. * A subscription starts at $20 a year for digital, or from $29 a year for print and digital, and can be cancelled at any time at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=84afada7-2a50-4dbb-9e62-00354a9c18fa&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsroom is led by Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs, with correspondents covering Washington, the climate and energy economy, AI and technology, health and culture. * TIME reaches 1 million US print subscribers, 1.15 million globally, and more than 1.1 million newsletter readers. * TIME also publishes seven free email newsletters at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=84afada7-2a50-4dbb-9e62-00354a9c18fa&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1), separate from a paid subscription. ### FAQ #### How much does a TIME subscription cost? TIME digital-only is $20 for one year. Print and digital is from $29 for one year, or $49 for two years. Both plans can be cancelled at any time. Subscriptions are at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### What is included in a TIME print and digital subscription? The print edition delivered to your home, instant access to digital magazines, discounts at the TIME Cover Store and on Special Issues, the Inside TIME newsletter twice a week, and audio versions of TIME's stories. It is from $29 for one year or $49 for two years at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### What is the difference between TIME's digital and print plans? Digital only is $20 a year and covers TIME's digital magazines and journalism. Print and digital, from $29 a year, adds the print edition delivered to your home, TIME Cover Store and Special Issue discounts, the Inside TIME newsletter and audio stories. #### Is TIME a reliable news source? TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923. Its journalism is reported and edited by a professional newsroom led by Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs, with named correspondents on politics, climate, health, technology and culture. It reaches 1 million US print subscribers and 1.15 million globally, plus more than 1.1 million newsletter readers. #### How do I subscribe to TIME magazine? Subscriptions are at time.com/subscribe-agent. Choose digital only at $20 a year, or print and digital from $29 a year or $49 for two years. TIME also publishes seven free email newsletters at time.com/newsletters, which do not require a subscription. #### Can I cancel a TIME subscription? Yes. TIME states that subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. #### Does TIME have free newsletters? Yes. TIME publishes seven free email newsletters reaching more than 1.1 million readers, covering daily news, Washington politics, health, AI, climate and energy, culture, and the newsroom itself. They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  _This content was paid for and prepared by China Daily, an official publication of the People's Republic of China. The TIME editorial and advertising departments were not involved in the creation of this content._ Archaeologists work at a sacrificial pit at Sanxingdui site, in Guanghan, Sichuan province. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY By PENG CHAO Sanxingdui in Guanghan, Sichuan province, stands out as one of the most mesmerizing names in the story of early Chinese civilization. First discovered in the 1920s, Sanxingdui has yielded a wealth of discoveries over nearly a century of archaeological research. Among its most remarkable findings are those from the eight “sacrificial pits,” which have astonished the world with their exquisite artifacts and mysterious origins. The first two pits, unearthed in 1986, revealed magnificent bronze and gold masks that instantly captured global attention. A new round of excavations beginning in 2019 uncovered six additional pits (No. 3 to 8), sparking even greater public curiosity about the site’s origins and chronology. Recent research has now provided more solid clues. According to new carbon-14 analysis conducted by Peking University, there is a 95.4% probability that the burial of the sacrificial pits No. 3, 4, 6, and 8 occurred between 1201 B.C. and 1012 B.C. This places the period in the late Shang Dynasty (c.16th century-11th century B.C.), according to a September release from the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute. Identical fragments found across pits No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8 suggest that these artifacts were buried at the same time, says Ran Honglin, the institute’s lead archaeologist at Sanxingdui. This discovery provides key evidence for establishing a precise chronological framework for the site. A joint study by the Sichuan provincial institute, the Palace Museum, the University of Science and Technology Beijing, and the Needham Research Institute at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom has also offered new insights into Sanxingdui’s bronze-casting techniques. According to the study, Sanxingdui developed an innovative casting technology centered on sectional casting, complemented by integral casting and forging, during the late Shang Dynasty. In the production of bronzeware, the inner core, or the clay core, and the outer mold worked together to cast the shape of the vessel. To reinforce and support the inner core during its production process, bronze workers added organic or metal strip-shaped materials, similar to steel bars used to reinforce concrete in modern architecture. Bronze workers also used supports in the casting molds to maintain the relative position between the inner core and the outer mold, thereby avoiding misalignment and adhesion between the two components, says Guo Jianbo, a researcher at the Sichuan provincial institute. Multidisciplinary research on five aspects of Sanxingdui, including the manufacturing techniques of excavated gold artifacts, bronze painting techniques, standardized pottery production, rice cultivation methods and ivory preservation technology, has also made significant progress, according to Guo’s institute. Researchers say the gold artifacts from Sanxingdui, all gold-silver alloys, were likely sourced from relatively stable placer gold deposits and refined through cupellation, an ancient method used to purify silver and gold. The technique involves heating a lead alloy that contains gold or silver in a specially designed porous vessel made of bone ash or similar materials under a stream of air. The lead oxidizes into litharge, carrying away other impurities, and is absorbed by the vessel, leaving behind purified gold and silver. The total amount of gold discovered at Sanxingdui exceeds 4.4 pounds — unmatched in China during the same period. Covering 4.6 square miles, the Sanxingdui site includes the remains of an ancient city, sacrificial pits, residential quarters and tombs. Scholars believe the site was established 2,800 to 4,800 years ago, and archaeological discoveries confirm that it was a highly developed and prosperous political, economic and cultural center of the Shu Kingdom, as recorded in many ancient Chinese documents. In ancient times, Sichuan was known as Shu. It had long been thought that Sanxingdui wasn’t discovered until 1929, but this has since been proven to be incorrect, says Sun Hua, a professor at Peking University’s School of Archaeology and Museology. He explains that in 2023, Huo Wei, a distinguished professor and academic dean at the school of history and culture at Sichuan University, used university archives to write a paper proving that Sanxingdui was actually discovered in 1927, not in 1929 as previously believed. In 1933, an archaeological team headed by David Crockett Graham, who came from the United States and then taught at West China Union University in Chengdu, Sichuan — now West China Medical Center of Sichuan University — carried out the first formal excavation work at the site after Yan Daocheng, a local villager, accidentally discovered Sanxingdui. Then, in 1984, archaeologists had a major breakthrough when the remains of large palaces and parts of the eastern, western and southern city walls were found. Two years later, two large pits full of bronze artifacts, including masks and figurines, were unearthed. More than 600 were found in pit No. 1 and more than 4,000 in pit No. 2\. Since the end of 2019, six additional pits have been discovered and excavated in the same area. Artifacts from the new pits include a bronze altar, a tortoise-shell-shaped vessel covered with a net, a human figurine with a serpent’s body carrying a zun — a vessel used for rituals — on its head, and a bronze artifact shaped like a dragon with a pig’s nose. To date, 23,000 relics have been unearthed from the eight pits, according to Liu Zhiyan, vice-president of the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute. Many of the important finds are on display at the Sanxingdui Museum, which is built on the ruins. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/gold-bronze-and-mystery/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/gold-bronze-and-mystery/"},"headline":"Gold, bronze and mystery","datePublished":"2026-06-18T14:27:55.859Z","dateModified":"2026-06-09T07:28:04.541Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/gold-bronze-and-mystery/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[],"articleSection":"Paid Content","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/gold-bronze-and-mystery/","name":"Gold, bronze and mystery"}}]}] ```