In Diaoyu city, an ancient castle in Southwest China’s Chongqing, a special tour was conducted recently with a focus on damaged walls, old stones and ordinary-looking locations, rather than the photogenic spots     1     (normal) favored by tourists.

Ten people from four     2     (family) were invited to the new archaeology-themed study tour,     3     was organized by Chongqing’s institute of cultural relics (文物) and archaeology. The tour was designec     4    (bring) the cultural relics more vitality (生机) and develop the interest of participants in study ins history and archaeology     5     (office) data shows that Chongqing has about 26,000 immovable cultural relics and over 1.48 million movable ones. By the end of 2021, there had been 108 million state-owned cultural relics.     6     total number of world heritage sites in China had reached 56,     7     (rank) second in the world.

Other than the study tour, Chongqing has promoted the charm of history and culture, such as opening the country’s first archaeology-themed café     8     starting an immersive (沉浸式的) and theatrical experience in a historic structure.

Chongqing     9     (bring) 10 more historical sites into the range of archaeological tourism in the future. These tourist attractions     10     (expect) to inspire the interest of teenagers in history and archaeological culture.

3 . Many people today think of the pyramids of Giza as the symbol of ancient Egyptian culture. But who actually built them? For years, we did not know for sure. Now, however, archaeologists have discovered an ancient city near the pyramids. Close by, there is a cemetery (墓地) where the pyramid builders were buried. From studying these places, archaeologists are sure that the pyramids were not built by slaves or foreigners.    1    

It took about 80 years to build the pyramids. Archaeologists believe that about 20,000-30,000 people took part in the construction.     2     Some dug up the rock, some moved it, and some shaped it into blocks. People also worked on different teams, each with its own name. Workers often competed to see whose team could do a job faster.

“We can see that in their skeletons(骨骼),” says Azza Mohamed Sarry El-Din, a scientist studying bones found in the cemetery. According to her research, the bones show signs of arthritis (关节炎)．    3     Archaeologists have also found many female skeletons in the ancient city and cemetery. The damage to their bones is similar to that of the men.    4     Male workers generally lived to age 40-45, but women to only 30-35. However, workers usually had enough food, and they also received medical care if they got sick or hurt.

    5     On a wall in Khufu's Great Pyramid, for example, a group of workers wrote Friends of Khufu. “It's because they were not just building the tomb of their king,” says Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass. “They were building Egypt. It was a national project, and everyone was a part.”

4 . Chinese cultural relic authorities on Thursday revealed some new discoveries from the puzzling Sanxingdui Ruins in Sichuan Province, including a gold mask, a huge bronze mask, bronze statues and ivory carvings.

A complete gold mask 37.2 centimeters wide, 16.5 centimeters high and about 100 grams in weight was unearthed from No.3 Pit. The golden mask shares a similar size and the same facial features as one of the bronze heads unearthed before. "This golden mask might be a part of the face of the bronze head," Ran Hongling, head of the Sanxingdui Institute of Archaeology (考古), told the Global Times. Meanwhile, a large bronze mask, 135 centimeters wide and 74 centimeters high, was dug up from the same pit, which is relatively well preserved and it is the largest bronze mask ever discovered at the site.

Among the newly unearthed bronze statues from No. 4 Pit, one standing figure is being jokingly called the ancient "ancestor" of the popular Japanese superhero "Ultraman" due to the pointed crown (冠) on its head and his eyes that stick out. Another bronze statue has a special hairstyle that reminded people of the crown-shaped hat worn by Zhuge Liang, a Chinese statesman living during the Three Kingdoms period. And still another bronze statue has a unique pose. The figure is kneeling down with his head turned to the right and his hands are on the front left side of his body, but most interestingly, the figure is standing on the balls of both feet with his heels high in the air. The shapes and decorations of these bronze statues make them unique as valuable resources for the research of the ancient Kingdom of Shu, some 3,000 years ago.

Currently, the third and fourth pits have produced 729 and 1,073 relics, including three relics made from unknown materials. Meanwhile, 200 ivory relics have been discovered in the eighth pit.

An ancient culture dating back more than 5,000 years proved China’s early exchanges with other societies, experts say.

Experts believe the Majiayao culture had a close     1    (connect) with other various cultures. They put it forward at a recent meeting     2     was held in Gansu Province. With more than 5,000 years of history, it plays an important role in the development of the Chinese civilization (文明). This culture spread to Central Asia through     3     is now China’s Xinjiang Province,     4    (bring) rice from China to the west.

Swedish expert Johan first     5    (investigate) cultural sites in 1924. In the 1940s, Xia Nai named the sites after the Majiayao, with painted pottery (彩陶) as     6    (it) most special feature. Some experts point out that the Majiayao culture     7    (obvious) shares similarities with the cultures of some parts of the Black Sea. People from these cultures used pottery     8    (make) human head sculptures.     9     addition, some Central Asian features also appeared on the painted pottery of the Majiayao.

Actions     10    (take) to protect the Majiayao culture by building museums, organizing meetings and doing more research so far.

6 . In his first year at Harvard, Manny Medrano made a big breakthrough. With the help of his professor Gary Urton. Medrano interpreted a set of six khipus, knotted cora (打结的绳子)used for record keeping in the Inca Empire(印加帝国).

The Inca Empire reached the height of its power in 15th- and l6th-century Peru (秘鲁). When the Spanish arrived, the Inca had established the largest and most complex society in the Americas, but they left behind no written records. The only ones the Inca are known to have kept are in the form of khipus. In 2002, Urton began Harvard s Khipu Database Project. He traveled to museums around the world to record the numbers of knots, lengths of cords, colors of fibers, and other details about every Inca: khipu he could find.

Urton says he and other researchers in the field have always had a general sense of what the khipus represented. Many had to do with census(人口普查) data. Others appeared to be calendar systems. But, until recently, none of the khipus Urton studied could be understood on a very detailed level.

A turning point came when Urton began looking into a set of six khipus from the 17th-centurySanta River Valley region of Northwest Peru. One day, Urton picked up a book and happened to spot a Spanish census document from the same region and time period. “A lot of the numbers that were recorded in that census record matched those six khipus exactly, Urton says. Then he couldn't help mentioning it to his students. Medrano, who was among these students, asked if he could help during spring break.

Urton agreed to allow Medrano to look into the Santa Valley khipus and the Spanish census. Medrano recalls looking through spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel. He noticed that the way each cord was tied onto the khipu seemed to correspond to(符合, 对应) the social status (地位) of the 132 people recorded in the census document. The colors of the strings also appeared to be related to the people's first names. After spring break, Medrano told his professor about his theories. Medrano worked with Urton over the next several months and the two wrote a paper together.

A deafening boom roars through Pompeii's crowded marketplace. The ground shakes     1     (violent), throwing shoppers off balance. People scream and point toward Mount Vesuvius, a massive volcano     2     rises above them.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, Pompeii was a busy southern Italian city. But in 79, the nearby Mount Vesuvius volcano erupted. Almost overnight, Pompeii and many of its 10,000 residents disappeared under     3     blanket of ash.

Pompeii was basically forgotten until it     4     (rediscover) in 1748. Thanks     5     diggings, scientists have been able to figure out almost exactly what happened on that terrible day.

After the volcano first erupted shortly after noon, the thick ash turned everything black. Some residents escaped the city, while others took shelter in their homes. But the ash kept     6     (fall). Piles grew as deep as nine feet in some places, blocking doorways.

    7     (base) on what they uncovered, scientists believe that Pompeii was a prosperous town popular with     8     (wealth) Romans. Well-paved streets had high sidewalks. To relax, people soaked in public baths and enjoyed plays in two theaters.

Pompeii may be ancient history, but scientists are pretty sure Mount Vesuvius is overdue for another major     9     (explode). Luckily the people living near the volcano today will likely receive     10     (warning) before it blows.