Lost Civilization Sanxingdui: The Mystery of Sanxingdui & Chinese Metallurgy

Sanxingdui is a very mysterious lost civilization in Ancient China. A highly advanced Bronze Age culture, Sanxingdui dates between 5,000-3,000 years ago. Its most striking artifacts are the peculiar large scale bronze masks (some with gold foils) and other relics, which have attracted international attention.

However, there are no historical records about this previously unknown civilization. More than 30 years have passed since its initial discovery in 1986, but there has been little progress to unravel this mystery. One thing we do know is that Sanxingdui has rewritten the history of Chinese civilization.

The discovery of these artifacts has opened up a world of intrigue. There are too many unexplainable objects, for example:
• Why do these masks not look Chinese?
• The gold foil covered cane is not a cultural tradition of ancient China.
• Researchers can not find any Chinese copper ores that matches the highly radiogenic lead used in Sanxingsui and some Shang bronzes.
• Sanxingdui bronzes predate the Chinese Bronze Age by 200 years.

What is the origin of this culture and what kind of people could have created such incredible art?

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References:
Carbon dating info:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/gea.21624

Sanxingdui Bronze with highly radiogenic lead:
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep23304/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1296207419305795
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344966854_Revisit_the_Lead_Isotopic_Compositions_of_the_Shang_Bronzes_at_Hanzhong_and_the_new_Hypothesis_of_Qinling_as_the_source_of_Highly_Radiogenic_Lead

Seima-Turbino/ Steppe cultures & Chinese metallurgy:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/origins-of-metallurgy-in-china/69E7A6EE63F38C7D5B2B0612E48DE264
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287868821_Qijia_and_seima-turbino_The_question_of_early_contacts_between_northwest_China_and_the_Eurasian_steppe

More:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030544031830147X?via%3Dihub
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259126006_Moving_metals_II_Provenancing_Scandinavian_Bronze_Age_artefacts_by_lead_isotope_and_elemental_analyses
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16557-2