China selects top 10 archaeological discoveries in 2005
10/5/2006 15:50
The discovery of a 7,000-year-old altar and the unearthing of an entire
village buried 2,000 years ago are among China's top 10 archaeological finds in
2005.
The altar, the earliest sacrificial site in China, was discovered at
the Gaomiao site in central China's Hunan Province. And the village was
excavated in Henan Province in the old course of the Yellow River, the second
longest waterway in China.
The new findings, selected by the State
Administration of Cultural Heritage and the China Cultural Relics Journal, also
include a relic site dating back 9,000 years in east China's Zhejiang Province
and a site in southwestern Guizhou Province where a large number of ancient
tombs and remains of houses were found.
As well, archaeologists in Henan have
excavated 336 tombs dating back more than 3,000 years. The most striking of
these tombs contained a coffin formed by using 13 stones.
Also in the top 10
was a kiln of the Shang Dynasty (1600-1100 BC) found in east China's Fujian
Province, which shows that the pottery manufacturing industry was well-developed
at that time.
Ancient tombs found in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Jiangsu provinces,
all dating back to the Zhou Dynasty (770-476 BC), made the top 10 list.
In
north China's Shanxi Province, tombs were discovered containing exquisite mural
and lacquer paintings dating back about 1,500 years ago .
China has been
selecting its top 10 archaeological works since 1990. This year's top 10
discoveries were chosen from more than 100 excavations in 2005.
Xinhua News
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