China's top 10 archaeological finds of 2018

Chinese archaeologists have selected the top 10 archaeological discoveries in CHINA in 2018, the list of which was released here on Friday by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage:

1. Remains dating back 10,000 to 25,000 years were found in caves in Qingtang Town in southern CHINA's Guangdong Province, including fossils of human bones and cooking sites.

2. Archeologists in central CHINA's Hubei Province discovered 212 ancient tombs dating back around 5,000 years to the Neolithic Age. The site was discovered in 1983, and excavation started in March 2018 led to the discovery of the tombs.

3. An archaeological excavation discovered housing and cooking sites and city walls, as well as cultural items including pottery, stoneware, boneware and jadeware at Lushanmao Site in Yan'an City in northwest CHINA's Shaanxi Province, meaning the history of the city can be traced back 4,500 years, 2,300 years earlier than the previous estimate.

4. Archeologists found evidence of coal use, which is considered the world's earliest use so far, at the Jartai Pass Site in northwest CHINA's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The findings pushed back the beginning of human coal use by over 1,000 years.

5. An archaeological team discovered a complex of royal tombs in northern CHINA's Shanxi Province, including 12 tombs and six sacrificial pins from the late Shang Dynasty (around 1600-1046 BC), which provides new clues for the research of the Shang Dynasty's capital Yin, known for its large discovery of oracle bone script.

6. An archaeological excavation in Shaanxi Province discovered remains of an ancient city, which included relics such as pottery fragments as well as four graveyards and a number of tombs. The city has been confirmed by archeologists to be the capital of an unfamous vassal state in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BC).

7. Archeologists in eastern CHINA's Jiangsu Province discovered remains of ancient river channels and buildings as well as a series of relics at the Huangsipu Site, which used to be an important port during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). This is expected to promote research concerning the journey of Jianzhen, a Chinese monk living in the Tang Dynasty that traveled across the sea to Japan to spread Chinese culture.

8. Archaeologists unearthed relics dating back 1,800 years from a site for the Olympic village in Zhangjiakou City in northern CHINA's Hebei Province. The site is believed to have been a summer palace for emperors in the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234).

9. Archaeologists discovered 35 relics of different parts of a city such as roads, drainage ditches and houses at the Fanjiayan Site in southwest CHINA's Chongqing Municipality. At the site dating back to the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), they also found the remains of two pools, including a large number of plant seeds and specimens.

10. Archeologists found a shipwreck, confirmed to be the warship Jingyuan sunk by the Japanese navy during the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), in northeast CHINA's Liaoning Province. They also discovered more than 500 relics made of iron, glass, porcelain, leather and other materials.

CHINA has listed its top 10 archaeological findings every year since 1990.