Gold masks, ivory and jade were among 500 Bronze Age artifacts discovered in the Sanxingdui ruins in China’s southwestern Sichuan province, authorities announced on Saturday.

The wares were retrieved from six sacrificial pits in an archaeological dig from November 2019 to May last year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration said.

Fragments of gold and bronze masks, bird-shaped gold ornaments, and ivory and jade tools were found. Experts believed the relics dated back to some 3,000 years ago.

The discovery that warranted the most attention was the broken remains of a gold mask found in pit No. 5, said Yu Mengzhou, the deputy leader of the excavation endeavor. It measured 23 centimeters wide and 28 centimeters high, and weighed 280 grams. A preliminary assessment showed the mask contained about 84% gold, which was consistent with other gold items previously found at the ruins.

Were it intact, the mask would have weighed about 500 grams, according to archaeologists’ estimates, which would have made it the heaviest gold object unearthed from that period.

The mask appeared to have burn marks at its edge, an indication that it might have been used by people in the ancient Shu civilization to offer sacrifices to ancestors, archaeologists said. However, as such masks were heavier and larger than the size of a human face, they were not likely worn, and it was difficult to conclude their exact purpose, they added.

Sanxingdui, located about 40 kilometers from the provincial capital Chengdu, is also the region where more than 1,000 treasures were discovered in 1986. Experts at the time called it one of the “most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.” A four-meter-tall “tree of life” was one of the oldest and largest bronze wares unearthed.

Much of the ancient Shu civilization remains a mystery. Various theories point to why the Chinese kingdom disappeared some 3,000 years ago, with some saying it was due to foreign invasion, and others suggesting massive floods.

The shape and casting technology of the bronze relics uncovered in Sanxingdui differ from other bronze artifacts found in the central plains of China, further baffling the archaeological community.

In particular, bronze masks and portraits featuring “high noses and deep-set eyes, protruding cheeks, wide mouths and big pierced ears” do not resemble Chinese facial features. In fact, they are not very human-like. Some speculate that the Sanxingdui artifacts may be linked to ancient alien legends or the Babylonians in Mesopotamia more than 1,000 years ago, due to their peculiar form.

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