Celestial craftsmanship: discoveries from China Sanxingdui uveil secrets of meteorite axe

The archaeological site of Sanxingdui in southwest China’s Sichuan province has yielded remarkable discoveries, including insights recently revealed by Chinese researchers about how the inhabitants forged an axelike tool from a meteorite. While meteorite artefacts are not entirely unheard of – China boasts 13 known meteorite objects – this discovery underscores that the people of Sanxingdui were part of a distinct regional culture, separate from their contemporaries further north. “The presence...