Hong Kong Palace Museum |

Shell

This bronze ornament resembles a seashell and weighs approximately 3 g. It is upraised on both sides, with a perforation on the top and a protrusion with a groove on each side. The edges are toothlike. Hence, some scholars identify it as mimicking the cowrie shells found among the thousands of seashells unearthed from Sanxingdui (species of cowries at Sanxingdui include Monetaria annulus [ring cowrie] and Cypraea tigris [tiger cowrie]). At the upper end of the bronze shell are three linked rings. Within the same pit, three sets of bronze shells like this one were also discovered.

This bronze resembles cowrie shells found in tropical areas of the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, which likely spread in Eurasia along the eastern foot of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau or via the Southern Silk Road. In 1986, nearly five thousand shells of various types were unearthed from the two pits at Sanxingdui, the majority of which were found inside bronze vessels, with the bronze zun-vessel from pit 2 in the showcase to the left containing an astonishing 935 shells.