The Bronze Tree of Sanxingdui

Is it the oldest man-made Genesis artefact?

5 September 2006

Cong Jiang

In 1986, workers from a brickyard near Guanghan, China, uncovered some bronze objects, which led to the discovery of a thousand treasures of gold, ivory, pottery, bronze, marble and bone.

Archeologists link the material to the Sanxingdui People and say it has been buried for at least 2700 years, probably much longer. How did the miraculous bronze smelting technique and the human culture that created the bronze ware come into being?

One of the most intriguing finds, dug out of the pits, was a tall bronze object, which they were able to clean and reassemble. There is little doubt that the object represents a tree but there is much mystery about its meaning.

Why did the ancient artists depict a fruit tree with life-sized fruit and at the same time have a long bronze serpent undulating to and fro down the trunk? Why are so many of the leaves around the fruit shaped like long knives?

In the latest issue of the Journal of Creation, Stephen Brennecke describes the bronze tree in detail, and gives evidence that the ancient Sanxingdui people in China shared the same ancestral history as the Chaldeans, from whom Abram was called to journey to the Promised Land. Stephen’s fascinating article shows that the tree gives an independent triangulation that complements the Genesis account in intimate detail.

This sort of analysis is not available in most secular scientific journals because their editorial policies discriminate against authors with ‘creation credentials’, and against interpretations that link evidence to the biblical account.

It’s not generally available to the Christian public either. But through the Journal of Creation (previously called TJ), the best creation thinkers are able to brainstorm their ideas and get the faith-building information out. The Journal is a vital cog in the creation movement worldwide.

Also in the current Journal of Creation 20(2) read about:

• Problems with cosmic background radiation—not evidence for the big bang.
• Hominid missing links—made for walking, not crawling on all fours.
• The moon’s recession from the earth and how it points to a recent creation for the solar system.
• Remarkable dinosaurs from the Polar Regions and the problems this presents for cold-blooded reptiles surviving in an icy environment—or was it?
• Some of the most significant books for the creation issue reviewed with clear creation implications, including On the Reliability of the Old Testament, by Kenneth Kitchen, and the latest research report on the RATE project, by Larry Vardiman, et al.
• Dinosaur gastroliths, those intriguing gizzard stones, and how they turn out to be not what they are claimed to be, and why.
• Why the elements of the universe point to creation, not nucleosynthesis as big bang theory claims.
• Real-life examples of rapid sedimentation. If it wasn’t for the eyewitness report documented in photos in this article, the sediment would look like it was deposited slowly and gradually over a long time.