The Sanxingdui site is an important component of the Chinese Civilization Origins Project and provides key evidence of the diversity and unity of Chinese civilization and its long and continuous history. In recent years, as archaeological excavations at Sanxingdui have continued to deepen, a large number of precious cultural relics have been unearthed. As the structures and material compositions of cultural relics have become increasingly complex, one of the major challenges currently facing cultural heritage conservation and archaeological research is how to accurately obtain key information about their internal structures, material composition, manufacturing techniques, and state of preservation without causing any damage to the artifacts themselves.

     This strategic cooperation represents an important example of cross-sector collaboration between the research capabilities of higher education institutions and professional institutions specializing in cultural relics and archaeology. Shanghai Jiao Tong University has accumulated extensive research expertise in materials science, AI, digital technologies, and the application of large-scale scientific facilities. Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has long conducted in-depth research on Sanxingdui and the ancient Shu civilization, with extensive first-hand experience in the conservation of cultural relics and valuable primary research resources. The two sides will focus on key scientific issues in cultural heritage conservation and systematically advance the application of technologies such as neutron-based non-destructive testing, materials provenance analysis, AI-assisted research, and digital-twin-based restoration in the field of archaeology.

Building on the advanced neutron science platforms “Hetu” and “Luoshu,” whose design and construction are led by Professor Zhong Shengyi’s team at SJTU, the two sides will be able to conduct high-precision neutron measurement experiments. These technologies will enable imaging of internal structures, analysis of material composition, and extraction of hidden information without causing any damage to the cultural relics, providing a unique non-destructive characterization approach for archaeological research.

Visiting the “Hetu” Cold-Neutron Engineering Stress Diffractometer

      Looking ahead, the two sides will focus their research on important cultural relics such as the bronze artifacts of Sanxingdui and seek to

establish an innovation chain linking “large-scale scientific facilities – key technologies – cultural relic research – conservation applications.” They

will explore a new model of scientific and technological conservation of cultural heritage based on deep interdisciplinary collaboration, promoting

the transformation of traditional archaeological research from single-dimensional information acquisition toward a multidimensional, multi-scale,

and intelligent approach.

Next, the two sides will accelerate the construction and commissioning of the laboratory and carry out joint research on key issues in cultural heritage conservation. They will simultaneously promote the application and commercialization of scientific and technological achievements as well as interdisciplinary talent development, leveraging technological innovation to advance the conservation and transmission of China’s outstanding traditional cultural heritage and contributing SJTU’s expertise to the high-quality development of the cultural heritage sector in the new era.

      The research team led by Professor Zhong Shengyi focuses on advanced materials and manufacturing enabled by large-scale scientific

facilities and physics-constrained AI. The team has led more than 20 research projects, including a frontier research project on large-scale

scientific facilities under the National Key Research and Development Program during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, as well as projects funded by

the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The team also independently designed and built SJTU’s neutron diffraction engineering stress

diffractometer “Hetu” and small-angle neutron scattering spectrometer “Luoshu.”

       Leveraging research platforms including the SJTU Paris Elite Institute of Technology (SPEIT), the National Key Laboratory of Neutron Science

and Technology, and the School of Materials Science and Engineering at SJTU, the team develops advanced neutron measurement technologies

and multiscale materials characterization methods. It is developing capabilities for non-destructive quantitative characterization of residual stress,

texture, nanoscale phases, and other microstructural features in engineering components and complex structures. The team also combines AI-

assisted materials computation and materials genome approaches with experimental validation to support the development of high-performance

structural materials and complex engineering components.

  In recent years, the team has collaborated with the Palace Museum, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Archaeology (Sanxingdui Research Institute), the French museums’ research and restoration institutions, and other organizations. It has applied neutron technologies and other advanced non-destructive characterization methods to research on the provenance and conservation of cultural relics.