A Study on the Sports Elements of Ancient Shu Civilization at Sanxingdui

The renowned Sanxingdui Ruins harbor scattered yet profoundly understudied sports elements. They manifest in various forms: some emerge as ambiguous proto-sports activities, others demonstrate pronounced physical training effects, while still others have been directly preserved as children's toys or athletic gaming tools. The content encompasses historical athletic practices including archery, ritual dances, martial training, stone ball games, spinning tops, and other ancient sports activities, alongside rudimentary concepts of physical culture. Investigating the sports elements of the ancient Shu civilization at Sanxingdui not only advances empirical research on early Chinese physical culture but also enriches the civilizational significance of the Shu region during the Xia-Shang period, while illuminating Chinese civilization's distinctive qualities as a diverse-yet-unified entity shaped by cultural integration.