Archaeologists found the items at Sanxingdui, which is in Sichuan Province, near what is now Chengdu. The golden mask, found in June 2021, had deteriorated severely, and workers thought that it looked like a slightly colorful mess of something resembling paper. They discovered that the 100-gram mask was part of a larger bronze head figure. Archaeologists had found another similar mask a few months earlier.

Also among the finds have been a plethora of bronze, ivory, and jade figures and vessels. Of primary importance to restorers at the moment is a 22-inch-high bronze statue that historians say is very old indeed, part of the Shu state, which developed independently of other Yellow River societies but was conquered in 316 B.C. by the Qin, whose leader became China's first emperor.

A farmer discovered the Sanxingdui site in the 1920s. Excavations began in earnest much later, in the mid-1980s. At that time, archaeologists found two ceremonial pits that housed a number of bronze masks, a bronze tree (left), and more than 1,000 other items, including some made of silk. Subsequent excavations in 2019–2021 unearthed many more items, including the most recent finds. Although excavations continue, officials have displayed many of the items found at an onsite museum.