The
discovery of Yin Ruins dating back over 3,000 years in Anyang
County of central China's Henan Province was ranked first in
China's selection of 100 most important archaeological discoveries
in the 20th century.
The Institute of Archaeology under the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Thursday announced the
final result of the selection among nearly 10,000 archaeological
discoveries in China over the past 100 years.
Other world famous discoveries such
as Peking Man at Zhoukoudian in southwestern Beijing, the
Neolithic site at Banpo Village at the eastern outskirts of
Xi'an in Shaanxi Province, the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in
northwest China's Gansu Province, and the terra-cotta horses
and warriors at the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang in Xi'an
were also in the list.
The 20th century witnessed the development
and prosperity of archaeology in China, and the selection
is the largest ever in the country, involving experts from
eight state-level archaeological research organs, 28 provincial
institutes and 11 prestigious universities across China.
Liu Qingzhu, director of the Institute
of Archaeology, said that each of the selected 100 discoveries
is of great academic value and has a significant impact on
society.
Among the top 100 discoveries, seven date back to the Paleolithic
age (500,000 to 10,000 years ago), 30 date back to the Neolithic
age (10,000 to 4,000 years ago), 23 are from the period between
BC21st century and BC221, 24 are from the period between BC221
and 581AD, and the other 16 go back to later than 581AD.
(People's Daily 03/30/2001)