The earliest evidence of human settlement in the region is found at the Heliang site near Fengdu and is dated to 15,000 years ago.

Together they made a pact: whosoever that could throw a dagger and have it lodged in a particular stone crevice high up a cliff would be chief.

Again they made a competition, giving each competitor a rustic boat and swearing, "he who keeps himself afloat [on these rough waters] shall be chief!"

So they made him chief, calling him Lord Lin.Lord Lin led the people to settle in Yicheng in present-day southwestern Hubei near Sichuan.

The Ba absorbed other tribes it encountered, such as the Pu (濮), Zong (賨), Ju (苴), Gong (龔), Nu (奴), Rang (獽), Yi (夷) and Dan (蜑) tribes, therefore Ba was in reality a confederation of different groups.

[7] The Pu for example were a widespread tribe ranging from Henan to Guizhou and referred to as the Hundred Pu (百濮) due to their variety, and the Ju was a state in north central Sichuan, while the Dan were said to live on water, and the Rang were a people from the southeastern part of the Ba state known for their cliff burials.

[7] The state of Ba may have aided the founders of the Zhou dynasty in its overthrow of the Shang at the Battle of Muye in 1046 BC.

As the state of Chu expanded westward up the Han and Yangtze valleys it pushed the people of Ba west toward Shu.

Archaeological evidence also suggests the Ba people may have practised human sacrifice,[3] which Book of the Later Han indicates was made to the white tiger spirit of Lord Lin.

Large-scale performances of the dance involved the brandishing of various weapons to the accompaniment of drums and songs in the Ba language.

The second script is found in both western and eastern Sichuan, on weapons, a belt buckle and on the base of a bronze vessel.

The third script (possibly also phonetic) is known only from an inscription on the lid of a bronze vessel found in a grave in Baihuatan, Chengdu.