Sanxingdui Ruins Museum, the age-old heritage site, became one of the victims of the Monday earthquake in western China. (File Photo)

Guanghan county, located some 40 km northeast of Sichuan capital Chengdu, is known as the very place where the puzzling prehistoric Sanxingdui ruins were excavated in the 1980s.

The age-old heritage site became one of the victims of the Monday earthquake in western China.

The walls of the world-renowned Sanxingdui Ruins Museum were damaged in the disaster that has claimed the lives of thousands and counting.

On the second and third floors of the museum, some 20 sets of 3,000- to 4,000-year-old ceramic utensils that were featured on display - fell to the ground, shattering to pieces.

Immediate reports after the quake, however, indicated the museum's bronzeware remained intact.

Found by local farmers in 1929, the prehistoric Sanxingdui remnants first stunned the world in the 1980s. Since then, further excavations have led to other considerable archaeological findings.

Since 1929, more than 10,000 relics from 3,000- to 5,000-year-ago have been discovered from the site.

Archaeologists around the world were excited by the unearthing of large palatial remains in 1980, the remnants of eastern, western and southern walls in 1984, and the findings of two large sacrificial pits in 1986.

These discoveries prove that Sanxingdui contains the ruins of an ancient city, previously the political, economic and cultural center of the ancient Shu Kingdom.

A metropolis of its time, Sanxingdui boasted highly developed mining and agricultural systems, and produced ceramics and sacrificial tools.

Before the excavation of Sanxingdui, it was believed that Sichuan had a history dating back only 3,000 years. Now, it is believed that civilized culture first appeared in the province 5,000 years ago.

Archaeologists further believe the Sanxingdui ruins dispel theories insisting the Yellow River was the sole starting point of Chinese civilization.

The prehistorical Sanxingdui civilization has puzzled historians. There are several theories surrounding the fall of the ancient civilization because it disappeared with little trace - except for trinkets left behind that are unlike those found in other periods of Chinese history.