The Past and Present of Ancient Shu: Civilization Evolution from a Power–Media Perspective

The evolution of ancient Shu civilization—from the late Yangshao period through Baodun, Sanxingdui, and Jinsha, to the Duyu-Kaiming polity and eventual Qin conquest—spans approximately 2,500 years and cannot be reduced to a linear narrative of “rise and fall.” This paper employs the Media–Power Compatibility Dynamics (MPCD) framework as a unified analytical lens, reconceptualizing the evolution of ancient Shu as a series of dimension-specific ruptures and reconfigurations in the power–media relationship. The core argument is that each transformation preserved partial symbolic continuity (fish-bird-arrow motifs, solar worship, jade traditions) while restructuring media forms and power configurations. This pattern is most vividly exemplified in the Sanxingdui→Jinsha transition, where six paired symbolic transformations constitute the archaeological signature of MPCD Pathway 2 (partial fracture + intra-system adaptation). The paper also proposes and examines the “Sealing of the Old Gods” hypothesis—an independent parallel hypothesis positing that the eight Sanxingdui pits represent a ritual containment ceremony arranged in the Big Dipper configuration—and formally discusses the complementary relationship between the two explanations. Covering seven thematic modules (cultural origins, flood, track-separated burial, Big Dipper, Jinsha, Qin conquest, and the absence of writing), supplemented by cross-civilizational comparison with the Maya, Inca, and Egyptian cases, this paper aims to provide an operationalizable, falsifiable, and cross-civilizationally comparable theoretical framework for the study of ancient Shu.