Forty kilometers outside of Chengdu, a city in Sichuan province, archaeologists discovered a lost civilization that could change our current historical records.

It was in 1986 in a place called Sanxingdui, in Guanghan, where the researchers found two large-scale sacrificial pits dating back 3,000 years to the Shang Dynasty. They unearthed jade, ivory and bronze, as well as animal statues and face masks, among other treasures. But none were marked with Chinese writing. No historical record or text was recovered from the site.

During the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, many cultural relics were sent to Sanxingdui for repair.

After the earthquake, the Macao Foundation invested about 120 million yuan to rebuild the Sanxingdui Museum. Now, a new center for protecting and repairing artifacts is opening inside.

The museum opened in 1997 and is devided into two big exhibiton halls. One is for jade, gold and clay artifacts uncovered at the site, while the other hall exhibits the bronze works.

The articats in the museum are known as some of Sichuan's most important pieces of ancient civilization and culture.