A Stone Age bird sculpture uncovered in China could be a “missing link” in our understanding of prehistoric art. Dating back almost 13,500 years, the sculpture is now the oldest known example of three-dimensional art in East Asia.
Described
Recently, a new exhibition building at the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, Sichuan province, has become an immediate tourist hot spot. The exhibits show the mysterious culture
Tan Ping, one of the producers of Hello Sanxingdui, says it is important
Recently, a new exhibition building at the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, Sichuan province, has become an immediate tourist hot spot. The exhibits show the mysterious culture
For those who cannot make
Tan Ping, one of the producers of Hello Sanxingdui, says it is of great importance to inform the public about archaeological
The recent opening of a new exhibition building at the Sanxingdui Museum, in Guanghan, in Sichuan province, made the place
For those who cannot make it to Guanghan,
It provides a time-travel experience for both an educational and artistic appeal. The journey begins
On show
Images of these objects found at Sanxingdui and their
The Gansu Jiandu (简牍) Museum in northwest China’s Gansu Province on Sunday launched four online exhibitions related to the ancient Jiandu culture.
“Jiandu” refers to the bamboo and wooden slips on which ancient Chinese people wrote
Additionally, the exhibitions feature high-resolution
Distinguished as China’s only provincial-level museum focusing on bamboo and wooden slips, the Gansu Jiandu Museum boasts
6 . Scientists have confirmed that fossilized footprints found in New Mexico are between 21,000 and 23,000 years old — meaning humans existed in North America much earlier than previously believed.
It was believed humans existed in North America somewhere between 13,500 and 16,000 years ago. So, were the prints — some of which look distinctly human with five toes — really between 21,000 and 23,000 years old?
Researchers from the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) and other scientists decided to do a follow-up study, using two new approaches to determine the age of the prints.
“The immediate reaction in some circles of the archeological (考古的) community was that the accuracy of our dating was insufficient to make the extraordinary claim that humans were present in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum,” said co-author of the new study, Jeff Pigati, a USGS research geologist. “But our targeted methodology in this current research really paid off.”
The scientists initially used seeds from the Ruppia cirrhosa plant found in the fossils. They used radiocarbon dating to determine the age of the seeds, but because the plants are aquatic (水生的) and can hold carbon from the water instead of the air, the age estimate could have been off.
So, in the new study, they used radiocarbon dating on conifer pollen, which comes from plants on earth, that were found in the same layers as the seeds. “Even as the original work was being published, we were pushing forward to test our results with multiple lines of evidence,” said co-author Kathleen Springer, a USGS research geologist. “We were confident in our original ages, but we knew that independent time-related control was critical.” The researchers had to isolate 75,000 pollen grains from the same layer and found that their age was statistically identical to the Ruppia cirrhosa seeds.
To further check their dating, they also tested quartz grains found in the footprints using a different dating process, optically stimulated luminescence. They found the quartz had a minimum age of about 21,500 years.
USGS says with three supporting pieces of evidence, it is unlikely the age range of 21,000 to 23,000 years is incorrect.
1. What can be learned about the newly found fossils?| A．They contain diverse sea plants. |
| B．Most of them look like humans’ footprints. |
| C．They date bake to the Last Glacial Maximum. |
| D．They will bring about ground-breaking discoveries. |
| A．To improve dating accuracy. | B．To remove the public doubts. |
| C．To prove the previous assumption. | D．To test the most advanced approach. |
| A．Uncertain. | B．Optimistic. | C．Doubtful. | D．Reserved. |
| A．Age of fossilized footprints confirmed. | B．Challenges in dating ancient footprints. |
| C．Early human migration to North America. | D．Radiocarbon dating in archaeological research. |
7 . That dinosaurs ate the mammals (哺乳动物) that ran beneath their feet is not in doubt. Now an extraordinary fossil newly described in Scientific Reports, unearthed by a team led by Gang Han at Hainan Vocational University of Science and Technology in China, shows that sometimes the tables were turned.
The fossil -dated to about 125 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period-was formed when a flow of boiling volcanic mud swallowed two animals seemingly locked in a life-and-death fight. The one on top is a mammal. This animal is a herbivorous species closely related to the Triceratops (三角恐龙). Animal interactions such as this are exceptionally cam e in the fossil record.
One possibility is that the mammal was eating something already dead, other than hunting live prey. These days it is uncommon for small mammals to attack much larger animals. But it is not unheard of. And Dr. Han and his colleagues point out that those mammals which eat dead bodies typically leave tooth marks all over the bones of the animals. The dinosaur’s remains show no such marks. There is also a chance the fossil could be a fake. More and more convincing fake s have emerged, as this one did -though Dr. Han and his colleagues argue that the complexly connected nature of the skeletons (骨骼) makes that unlikely, too.
Assuming it is genuine, the discovery serves as a reminder that not all dinosaurs were enormous during the Cretaceous and not all mammals were tiny. From nose to tail, the dinosaur is just 1.2 meters long. The mammal is a bit under half a meter in length. Despite being half the size, the mammal has one paw firmly wrapped around one of its prey’s limbs, and another pulling on its jaw. It is biting down on the dinosaur’s chest, and has ripped off two of its ribs. Before they were interrupted, it seems that the mammal was winning.
1. Which idiom is closest in meaning to underlined part “the tables were turned” in paragraph 1?| A．The fittest survives. | B．The hunters become hunted. |
| C．Fortune always favors the brave. | D．The truth will always come to light. |
| A．To prove the fossil was fake. | B．To show the forming of the fossil. |
| C．To illustrate the process of hunting. | D．To suggest the dinosaur was hunted alive. |
| A．The size of the fossil. | B．The absence of fake fossils. |
| C．The complexity of the skeletons. | D．The consistency of the opinions. |
| A．It offers a cause. | B．It highlights a solution. |
| C．It justifies the conclusion. | D．It provides a new discovery. |
8 . Discoveries at the famous Sanxingdui ruins in Southwest China show that the region’s ancient Shu Kingdom Civilization shared similarities with the Maya.
The Sanxingdui ruins belonging to the Shu Kingdom existed at least 4, 800 years ago, and lasted more than 2, 000 years, while the Mayan civilization built its city-states around 200 AD. Despite the differences in ages, the bronze-made remains of trees unearthed at the ruins of the Shu Kingdom resemble the sacred ceiba tree, which symbolized the union of heaven, earth, and the underworld in the Mayan civilization. “They are very important similarities,” says Santos, a Mexican archaeologist (考古学家) stressing that the representations of trees in both cultures provide a symbolism that is very similar.
While the time span between the Shu Kingdom and the Mayan culture is great, the findings show the closeness between the two civilizations. They developed in areas with comparable climates and reflected their world view through related symbols. “In the end, man is still man, independent of time and space. What we have is that at this latitude (纬度) both the Shu people and the Mayans looked at the same sky and had the same stars on the horizon,” the expert says.
One notable feature of the recent discoveries at Sanxingdui was the cross-subject work and technology applied by teams of Chinese archaeologists, which allowed the unearthing of artifacts as fragile as silk remains. Cooperation between Chinese and Mexican archaeologists could benefit projects in the Mayan world, where the rainy climate and humidity are problematic for the conservation of ruins.
“Every time our cultural knowledge increases, regardless of whether we speak one language or another, what it shows us is that we continue to be sister cultures and, therefore, the exchange of such knowledge is of vital importance,” says Santos.
1. What is the similarity between the Shu Kingdom and the Maya civilization?| A．Their starting time. | B．Their historical origins. |
| C．Their cultural symbols. | D．Their ceremony traditions. |
| A．Silk was a common clothing material then. |
| B．Human cultures shared similarities free from time and space. |
| C．There were bronze-made trees in ancient Maya. |
| D．The Shu Kingdom and the Mayan world had close contact. |
| A．Wet weather. | B．Positioning of ruins. | C．High latitude. | D．Language barriers. |
| A．The future of China-Mexico cooperation. |
| B．The benefits of speaking a different language. |
| C．The importance of the exchange of cultural knowledge. |
| D．The increasing sisterhood in culture between China and Mexico. |
9 . A large conch (海螺) shell brought little attention in a French museum for many years, but it is now quickly gaining attention. The shell is thought to be the oldest known seashell instrument. And it still works, producing a deep sound, like a horn from the distant past.
The shell was found during the exploration of a cave with prehistoric walk paintings in the Pyrenees Mountains in France. It was believed to be a drinking cup for ceremony. Scientists from the University of Toulouse recently took a fresh look at the conch shell. They now believe it was to serve as a wind instrument. They also invited a French horn player to play it.
“Hearing it for the first time, for me it was a big emotion and caused some worry.” Said archaeology researcher Carole Fritz She feared that playing the 31-centimeter-long shell might damage it, but it did not. The shell produced clear musical notes in C, C sharp and D. The researchers estimate it to be about 18,000 years old.
Conch shells have been used widely in musical and ceremonial traditions, including in ancient Peru, Japan and India. The shell instrument found in the Marsoulas cave is now the oldest known example. Earlier, Gilles Tosello, another archaeologist in Toulouse, said a conch shell instrument found in Syria was estimated to be about 6,000 years old.
The latest discovery was made after a recent inventory (盘货) at the Natural History Museum of Toulouse. The researchers noticed some unusual holes in the shell. Especially important is that the end of the shell was broken off. That created a hole large enough to blow through. Careful examinations with a microscope showed that the opening was made by humans.
Using a model of the shell, the archaeologists plan to continue studying the horn’s sounds. Tosello hoped to hear the ancient instrument played inside the cave where it was found. He said it was wonderful when an object was forgotten somewhere and suddenly it came again into the light.
1. In what case was the conch shell found?| A．On an exhibition in a French museum. | B．In a research on prehistoric wall paintings. |
| C．During the exploration of a cave in mountains. | D．In the observation of a ceremonial drinking cup. |
| A．To produce a deep sound. | B．To make it look more beautiful. |
| C．To create a hole to blow through. | D．To show it was unusual in design. |
| A．It gained attention as soon as it was discovered. |
| B．It could produce several unclear musical notes. |
| C．It was played by a French horn player and damage. |
| D．It was about 12,000 years older than the one found in Syria. |
| A．The oldest instrument can still be played | B．A research focuses on old shell instruments |
| C．A conch shell serves as a musical instrument | D．An ancient instrument comes into the light again |
Several large wooden constructions
First discovered in 1978, the site used
Three excavations (挖掘)
Researchers believe strongly the new findings will enrich the architectural history of prehistoric China. “The
