Bronze and Iron AgesCulture & Arts Sanxingdui c. 1,200 BCENotable Striking bronze masks from Sichuan reveal a sophisticated culture separate from the Shang. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → First fired clay figures → First pottery → Copper smelting → Bronze Age begins → Shang dynasty → Sanxingdui Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesBookRobert Bagley (ed.)Ancient Sichuan: Treasures from a Lost Civilization ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeSanxingdui bronze masks discovery ↗Editor's pick