Did our ancestors just learn to farm when the pyramids were built in ancient Egypt? Sanxingdui changed the perception after its introduction

China, as one of the four ancient civilizations in the world, has always been the pride of the nation. At the same time, the Chinese civilization, which has been considered to have originated in the Yellow River basin, is also the only ancient civilization that has survived to this day. With such a heavy and glorious historical accumulation, it also has a heavy historical responsibility and also has to accept the tests and questions from different people around the world.

We often like to talk about the five thousand years of Chinese civilization, but the identification of civilization is vague if according to the modern international definition of state formation, the civilization sites and excavated artifacts of the capital of the Xia Dynasty have not been recognized as a dynasty. Together with the archaeological evidence, the Shang Dynasty, founded in 1600 BC, can be considered the beginning of our dynasty.

But according to the archaeological sense of civilization, the new period of the Stone Age Yangshao culture and the Red Mountain culture and other sites are enough to prove that the Chinese civilization is much more than 5000 years, saying 7000 years are completely feasible. And the concept of "Hua" in the word "Huaxia" is also believed to come from the Yangshao culture in Henan Province in 5000 BC.

However, it must be admitted that, no matter how to calculate, the origin of civilization in ancient Egypt, located in the lower and middle Nile River, is far more than the origin of the Chinese civilization in the Yellow River basin in the first millennium. As early as about 7400 years ago, the ancient Egyptians have already formed an organized and regular city-state in the Fayum area, and the ruins of its central city can be traced back to as early as 7450 years ago.

After a certain period, ancient Egypt grew powerful and established the world's first great unified state, the Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, in 3150 BC. From the earliest pre-dynasty to the fall of the Ptolemaic Dynasty in 30 B.C., ancient Egypt was ruled by 33 dynasties, lasting more than 3,000 years.

Ancient Egypt is known as the ancient nation of the world, not only because of its early origins but also because of the influence of its civilization that spanned Asia and Africa. Ancient Greek, Roman, and Jewish civilizations were all influenced by ancient Egyptian civilization. Unfortunately, the civilization of ancient Egypt was Islamized by the "upstart" Arab Empire in 639 AD, and its civilization heritage came to an abrupt end at that time.

But even if the invasion suspended the continuation of civilization, the ruins of the ancient Egyptian kingdom finally remained and presented to future generations a long and colorful culture, especially the ancient Egyptian monarchs of the pyramids of the tombs of the Pharaohs to fascinate people.

The largest pyramid in the world is the well-known Pyramid of Khufu, which is also listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. But Khufu was the second pharaoh of Egypt's Fourth Dynasty, and he ordered the construction of the 146.59-meter-tall structure when it was still 2670 B.C.

How a miraculous project like this can be completed is still a mystery. If you compare the Yellow River Basin in China horizontally, the Chinese civilization at this time is still in the Neolithic period, and the Xia Dynasty has not yet begun. It can also be said that the Yellow River Basin was in the mythical era of the "Three Emperors and Five Emperors" as described in history books.

It was only in the 1950s and 1980s that the excavation of the Erlitou culture gradually broke the perception of the Xia dynasty and showed that the Xia dynasty existed between 4,000 and 3,600 years ago and that it also produced bronze tools. So is it possible to push forward a civilization that took shape and had a certain scale? This also depends on the Sanxingdui.

The emergence of the Sanxingdui culture site not only broke the Chinese people's perception of Chinese civilization but also broke the world's view of China. If the Xia Dynasty bronzes unearthed in the Erlitou culture site are still too few, and the area of the so-called city-state is not too large, leading Western cultural scholars to be reluctant to admit it, then the relics unearthed in Sanxingdui are enough to make cultural scholars around the world hold their breath.

The 3.95-meter-tall bronze tree, the 2.65-meter-tall bronze standing man, the various bronze masks, and the ivory with exquisite carving patterns, each of them is a manifestation of the magic and superb bronze casting skills of the ancient Shu culture that originated in the Yangtze River valley. Moreover, the patterns and polishing techniques on these bronze or gold masks all show that Sanxingdui was the site of a highly developed civilization.

So far, the excavated artifacts have been tested and have pushed the civilization of the Yangtze River basin forward by 5000 years. Of course, this is only the case of the Sanxingdui site not being fully excavated and studied, but such a high civilization, certainly not fallen from the sky, much less like the foreign media propaganda is "alien culture".

The time of its origin, the time of its demise and the meaning of the few unearthed texts all need to be studied and explored to get results. The Sanxingdui site has so many mysteries, which not only proves the diversity of the origin of Chinese civilization but also is a bright and dazzling pearl in the world's cultural heritage.