The exquisitely crafted golden mask unearthed at the Sanxingdui site in Sichuan province is becoming a hot topic of discussion. With its oversized size, especially in its eyes, many people believe that its real owner comes from outside the Earth.

News about the golden mask and about 500 artifacts unearthed in Tam Tinh Doi has not stopped since it was announced last week. The level of perfection of these artifacts far exceeds that of the great civilizations of their time, something that has surprised many people.

Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper commented that the new discoveries could “rewrite Chinese history”. This newspaper also speculates that this could be the remains of a mysterious civilization that has never been recorded in history books.

Although not intact, this golden mask has a shape quite similar to bronze masks that have been excavated before. According to Chinese archaeologists, the Tam Tinh Doi site belongs to the Bronze Age, so the appearance of the golden mask is an interesting discovery.

A series of questions have been raised by netizens. Among the questions collected by China Central Television (CCTV), many people commented that the gold mask and bronze mask were more suitable for characters in the fantasy movie Avatar than Chinese people.

“Does that mean the ancient Tam Tinh Doi area belonged to an alien civilization?”, one person asked.

With its oversized size, especially in the eyes, many people can’t help but think of the popular faces of aliens in fantasy movies.

However, the director of the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Wang Wei, rejected this conspiracy theory. “Those masks seem to imitate the gods of the ancients. One should not infer their faces from that,” Mr. Wang said.

Director of Sanxingdui Museum Lei Yu also agreed with this comment in an interview with CCTV. Mr. Lei commented that it is understandable why people think that the artifacts at Sanxingdui were left by aliens.

Previous excavations have found a gold walking stick and a bronze object shaped like a tree. All are unlike other ancient artifacts of the same period in China. According to Mr. Lei, this is only a small part of the Tam Tinh Doi civilization and it is entirely possible that it was a human product.

The Tam Tinh Doi site has been dated from 2,800 years to 1,100 years BC. The discovery and excavation took place in the 1980s and 1990s. Chinese archaeological experts believe that this site was once inhabited by a group of people from the ancient country of Shu.