The gold sunbird artefact is a national symbol of China according to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

After the decline of Sanxingdui, Jinsha emerged as the capital of the Shu state in the Shang or Western Zhou dynasty.

In 2013, History Channel Asia produced a one-hour English language documentary called The Lost City at Jinsha.

[1][6]: 252 [7]: 7 [8]: 170  When the China Real Estate Development Group was constructing the Shufeng Huayuancheng (蜀風花園城) 5 kilometers from the centre of Chengdu, a drain was discovered.

[6]: 251 [7]: 7  The Chengdu Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology immediately dispatched a team to investigate and secure the area.

[6]: 247 [7]: 7  Before 2001, the Chengdu Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology had conducted field surveys and excavations in Huangzhongcun (黃忠村).

[6]: 252–253  It is recognised that these archaeological localities are remnants of a large-scale civilisation in the late Shang and early Western Zhou periods.

[6]: 247 [9]: 79  During the Bronze Age, the fluctuating environment and demands for resources caused people to change settlements.

[10]: 384  Jinsha is bounded by Shuhan (蜀漢), Qinyang (青羊), Sanhuan (三環) and Qinjiang Roads (青江).

[6]: 251 Pottery found in Huangzhongcun dates the Jinsha settlement to the late Shang and Western Zhou dynasties.

[6]: 267  In view of the scale and complexity of the site, Jinsha is thought to have emerged as the capital after the decline of Sanxingdui.

[6]: 255–259 [7]: 12 Cultural artefacts made of gold, bronze, jade, stone, ivory and bone were discovered at Locus Mei Yuan.

[6]: 258 [7]: 12 Larger palace-like residential buildings and burial pits were found at Locus Tiyu Gongyuan.

[10]: 380  Artefacts made of bronze, gold, ivory, jade or other precious stones were generally used for religious or decorative purposes.

[4] Since people at Jinsha worshipped the sun, the gold sunbird is regarded to symbolise authority and power.

The figure's faces are angular with high nose bridges, and their bodies are naked with no decoration or markings on them.

[10]: 381  The figures most likely represent shamans, ritual performers, or human sacrifices to the higher beings, rather than slaves or prisoners of wars.

[8]: 175  Similar figures were found in Sanxingdui, where a short hairstyle mimics the identity of shamans and ritual specialists.

[8]: 171  In ancient China, snakes were viewed as the intermediate species between deity and humans, while tigers were feared by the people.

Those who commanded snakes and tigers were held as superior and special in status for conducting religious activities.

The discovered features found at Jinsha include residential buildings, burials, pits and pottery kilns.

[10]: 379 The Jinsha Museum has played the central role in the site's conservation[1] since its construction in 2007 as a shelter across 6 hectares.

[2]: 267 [17]: 2  The conservation department of the Jinsha Museum is responsible for security, surveillance and general maintenance – this is an attempt to prevent vandalism and destruction by the public.

[2]: 267 [17]: 2  A high concentration of illite was found in its soil, which makes the site's features and objects prone to cracking.

[2]: 268 [17]: 8  There are concerns that the excavation grids and unprotected artefacts are vulnerable to sunlight, birds and wet weather.

[9]: 78 [11]: 480 [18]: 934  While the reasons remain unclear, experts have proposed political revolution, catastrophic floods and earthquakes as possibilities.

[9][11][18][a] Of these, the political conflict hypothesis has been criticised due to its unrealistic ability to cause an entire settlement to disappear.

[11]: 491 [18]: 924  Not only could an earthquake have destroyed buildings (including homes), it could have also led to secondary natural disasters (such as floods and landslides), or rendered the surviving population more vulnerable to disease outbreaks.

Within these sediment remains, there is a high concentration of relatively large grains, which is evidence for the occurrence of floods in the region.