Mysterious 8 ton object
In the winter of 1973, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China planned to prepare to build a telecommunications building at Tianfu Square. However, in the process of digging the ground to build the foundation, the construction team discovered a very large rock underground.
Piling workers said that although Chengdu is in the delta area, sometimes large rocks still appear deep in the underground layer. They often call such single rocks “lonely rocks”.
However, the “lonely stone” discovered this time is a bit different. After clearing the soil on the surface, the workers discovered that this rock had traces of man-made carvings. Moreover, it looks like an animal.
The construction team did not dare to neglect and immediately reported the situation to the Department of Cultural Relics. When the archaeological team came to explore, the rock only revealed four legs pointing up to the sky, because no other parts were seen, so it was impossible to distinguish what animal it was. However, experts deduced that it is possible that this stone beast is a “divine beast”.
Close-up of the excavation process of “God Beast”. Source: Sohu
Archaeologists wanted to excavate at that time, but the construction party said that the animal was buried too deep, its weight exceeded the lifting range of all cranes on the construction site at that time, so it was almost impossible Feasibility.
The Sichuan Provincial Department of Cultural Relics decided to keep the status quo and continue to build a six-story telecommunications building on it.
The book “Study of the historical site of Chengdu Chengfang” that year also recorded that: “When building the telecommunications building, a stone monster was dug, but it was too heavy to be removed. It has become the foundation of the building.”
So what exactly was the rock beast buried under the foundation of the telecommunications building then? Is it really a “Sanctuary Beast” as the experts have deduced?
The answer remained open until 40 years later, in 2013!
The rock rhinoceros is brought out of the ground. Source: Sohu
‘Divine Beast’
In 2010, the 38-year-old telecommunications building could not keep up with the development of the times. The city government decided to demolish it to build the Sichuan Opera House.
In the winter of 2012, when the foundation of the Opera House was built, the archaeological team was soon on the scene in the hope of seeing the beast 40 years ago. As expected, when digging to a depth of more than 3m, the rock beast appeared every year.
In early 2013, the excavation process was completed. The divine beast has completely appeared in front of posterity with the form of a giant and mighty rhinoceros. This rhino has a length of 3.3m; 1.7m high and weighs more than 8 tons. It has a very sophisticated shape, round hips, sturdy limbs, carved patterns on the body but has been peeled off after thousands of years of rain and wind.
In ancient times, when the ancient people saw the giant rhinoceros swimming in the water, saw the rhinoceros horn split like a split in the water, they formed a belief about the divine beast capable of treating water.
According to historical records such as “Shu Vuong pen Ky” and “Shu Zhi”, during the Qin Dynasty, the Chengdu plain was frequently flooded, and the people were starving and miserable. At that time, Qin Shi Huang appointed Li Bing as Crown Prince with the responsibility of controlling the water management.
After surveying the topography and hydrology, Li Bing created a huge flow on the Min River, also known as the Dujiangyan River, and successfully controlled the floods in the Chengdu Plain, transforming the land. Thuc became the richest land at that time.
At that time, he also ordered to carve 5 stone rhinoceros as gods to control water, 2 were transported to Chengdu and 3 were placed in Dujiangyan.
Experts speculate that this rock rhino unearthed in Chengdu was probably one of the divine beasts used by the Qin Dynasty to treat water at that time. This is also the largest and earliest stone rhinoceros discovered in Southwest China so far.
