"The similarity in facial features provides clues about exchanges between the Shu Kingdom and areas in western Asia," Zhu said.

Elephant tusks

Sichuan is known for pandas rather than elephants but, despite this, literally tons of elephant tusks have been extracted from the site.

Measuring 1.60 meters long on average, with one gigantic 1.85-meter tusk, the elephant tusks are an impressive sight.

"One thing is for sure, they are from Asian elephants. Experts are analyzing the tusks to figure out how big the elephants were," Zhu said.

Elephant tusks are not easy to preserve. After excavation, there is the risk that exposure to the air could turn them into white powder.

"We have preserved some of the elephant tusks in organic silica gel for display purposes but most of them have been reburied where they were found -- to protect them," said Zhu. "Preserving elephant tusks is a challenge for scientists the world over."

It is not clear what the elephant tusks were used for. A drawing inscribed on a piece of gold ware shows a man on his knees carrying an elephant tusk on his back. "The elephant tusks must have been used in religious rituals, but we don''t know what kind of god the elephant tusks were offered to or how they were used in the rites," Zhu said.

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