1 . Every day people joined archaeologists and artists in finding some of the year’s most dramatic discoveries. Below are some examples of 2023.

“Naughty pupils”-ancient punishment method resurfaces

Archaeologists discovered 18,000 ink-carved pieces of pottery-known as “ostraca”—at the site of Athribis early this year, and among them were hundreds of fragments(碎片)with a single symbol repeated front and back.

Those scribbles(潦草的文字)are evidence of ‘naughty “pupils” being made to write lines, according to researchers a Germany’s University of Tuebingen. The fragments also included receipts, school texts, trade information and lists of names.

Van Gogh peers out in hidden portrait

There is one more known van Gogh’s self-portrait in the world, and it was hidden behind a painting of a peasant woman. People made the discovery when they took an X-ray of one of his portraits from 1885 and discovered the artist’s own image behind layers of cardboard and glue. While X-rays often reveal how artists-changed their compositions, the full self-portrait of van Gogh came as a huge surprise, who was known to reuse canvase(画布)to save money.

Another treasure collection from Sanxingdui

The Sanxingdui archaeological site has produced thousands of relics. The latest discovery, reported by Chinese state media in June includes 3,155 objects, a turtle shell-shaped box and a sacrificial altar among them. A team has been digging six places of the site, turning up more than 13,000 objects so far. Last year, the relics they uncovered included a golden mask, ivory artifacts(手工艺品)and a jade knife. The Sanxingdui culture still remains mysterious, as it left behind no written records or human remains, though many believe it to be part of the ancient kingdom of Shu, which ruled along the upper stream of the Yangtze River until it was conquered in 316 BC.

2 . While conducting a survey by airplane of northern Guatemala, researchers detected an ancient Maya site. “We can now see the entire landscape of the Maya region” in this section of Guatemala, said Carlos Morales-Aguilar, one of the researchers from the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas.

The findings were the result of the survey using lidar (雷达), or light detection and ranging, which has been revolutionary for studying historic sites. In lidar, lasers are sent out and the reflected light is used to create imagery of a landscape. The technology is particularly beneficial in areas with limited visibility such as the rainforest in maya site, as lasers can enter the heavy tree canopy, the thick cover formed by the leafy upper branches in a forest.

The lidar data showed “for the first time an area that was integrated politically and economically, and never seen before in other places in the Western Hemisphere (西半球),” Carlos wrote in the study. Using data from the scans, the team identified more than 1,000 settlements dotting the region. They were interconnected by 100 miles of causeways that the Maya likely traveled on foot. They also detected the remains of several large platforms and pyramids, along with canals and reservoirs used for water collection.

So what made this region so attractive that the Maya would want to settle there in the first place?

“For the Maya, the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin was the ‘Goldilocks Zone’,” Ross Ensley wrote, partner of Carlos, a geologist from the Institute for Geological Study of the Maya Lowlands in Houston, Texas. “The Maya settled in this region because it had the right mix of uplands for settlement and lowlands for agriculture.” Uplands lie above the level where flooding occurs. They provided a source for limestone, their primary building material, and dry land to live on. The lowlands are mostly seasonal swamps (沼泽), which provided space for wetland agriculture as well as organic-rich soil for use in terraced agriculture.

Researchers hope lidar technology will help them explore sections of Guatemala that have remained a mystery for centuries.

3 . Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed a Sphinx statue (狮身人面像) with a smiley face near the Hathor Temple, one of the country’s best preserved ancient sites. The smiling Sphinx is much smaller than the famous Sphinx in Giza, which is 20 metres high. The stone work of art, believed to be a stylized representation of an ancient Roman emperor, was found inside a two-level tomb near the temple in southern Egypt.

Next to the beautifully and accurately carved Sphinx, researchers had found a Roman stone written in hieroglyph (象形文字). Once fully translated, the stone may unveil the identity of the sculpted ruler, who could be Emperor Claudius.

The smiling Sphinx is among a series of discoveries announced over the past few months. The country has uncovered major archaeological discoveries in recent months, primarily in the Saqqara cemetery (墓地) south of Cairo as well as in Giza, home to the only surviving structure of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Recently, Egypt announced the discovery of a hidden nine-metre passage inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, which may lead to the actual burial room of pharaoh (法老) Khufu, or Cheops. Further south, in Luxor, archaeologists had discovered a 1,800-year-old complete residential city from the Roman times.

Hathor Temple, about 500 kilometres south of the capital Cairo, was home to the Dendera Zodiac, a heavenly map which has been displayed at the Louvre in Paris for more than a century. Since Frenchman Sebastien Louis Saulnier took it out of the temple in 1922, Egypt has been attempting to get it back.

Some experts see such announcements as having more political and economic weight than scientific, as Egypt is counting on tourism to revive its vital tourism industry in a severe economic crisis. The government aims to draw in 30 million tourists a year by 2028.

4 . My name is Arianna Traviglia and I’m a senior cultural and heritage researcher at the Centre for Cultural Heritage Technology at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, Italy.

As head of the team, I encourage the development of new technologies to maintain and protect important archaeological (考古学的) findings. Right now, I am working in the field of Pompeii, an ancient Roman city which was destroyed and buried under 13 to 20 feet of ash and small rocks during a volcanic eruption in 79 AD. With the help of a robot, I try to carefully reconstruct (重建) the city’s 2,000-year-old broken frescoes (壁画). The project is called RePAIR.

There are thousands of fresco pieces in Pompeii, and it was nearly impossible for a human to reconstruct all the irregular pieces into big, meaningful paintings in the past. Technology now allows us to do it-the robot we use is running by artificial intelligence (AI). As it examines a piece, it searches a database for a match, and then sends the data back to its hands to fit matching pieces together, saving a lot of hours. Its soft human-like arms and hands allow it to hold and examine the easily broken pieces without damaging them. The technology is likely to allow many museums around the world to reconstruct large-scale broken frescoes or similar objects in the future.

In RePAIR, I’m studying the hyperspectral (高光谱的) images of the fresco pieces in storage and comparing them with the paintings on the walls of the House of the Painters at Work, part of a building in Pompeii. By comparing the resemblances in the images, we will be able to work out whether the broken pieces were from the same wall.

I studied history and archaeology in college. Archaeology helps us understand where we come from, and technology enriches that exploration. I’m glad I’m a translator of the two worlds. My mind runs wild when I think about the exciting Roman life that we are still missing because Pompeii’s frescoes were damaged and haven’t been reconstructed.

A complete skeleton (骨架) of an animal, which was later confirmed to be that of a giant panda, was unearthed at     1     end of 2021 in Xi’an. It was the first time in history that giant panda remains had been unearthed from a tomb     2     (date) back to the Western Han Dynasty.

The skeleton had well-developed teeth, and was placed within a neatly     3     (lay) brick structure facing towards the direction of the tomb, with its tail pointing westward. After comparing the skeleton     4     existing giant pandas’, researchers discovered that it     5     (actual) belonged to a giant panda.

The researchers thought this giant panda might have originated from the forests on the northern side of the Qinling Mountains, where the climate was possibly     6     (warm) than today.

Back in 1975, a buried giant panda     7     (discover) near the tomb of Empress Bo. Researchers said that it is not yet possible to conclude that Empress Bo had a special     8     (prefer) for giant pandas. It appeared to be a royal garden feature.

Besides the giant panda, the remains of other rare animals were also found in the tomb,     9     reflects the belief in the Han Dynasty that people would live a life in the underworld, similar to that when they     10     (be) alive.

A Stone Age bird sculpture     1     (cover) in China could be a “missing link” in our understanding of prehistoric art.     2     (date) back almost 13,500 years, the sculpture is now the oldest known example of three-dimensional art in East Asia.

Described     3     being in “an exceptional state of preservation,” the sculpture was found at an archeological site in Lingjing, Henan Province. It was hand-carved from burned animal bone. Researchers say the sculpture depicts (刻画) a bird on a base, pointing to deliberate marks     4     the creature’s eyes and bill (嘴) would be. It is believed that the bird’s oversized tail was made     5     (prevent) the sculpture from leaning forward when     6     (lay) on a surface. This discovery identifies a(n)     7     (origin) artistic tradition and pushes back by more than 8,500 years the representation of birds in Chinese art. The sculpture differs     8     (technology) and stylistically from other sculptures found in Western Europe and Siberia, and it could be the missing link tracing the origin of Chinese statues back to the early part of the Stone Age. Li Zhanyang, who led     9     study, has contributed to other archeological findings in Lingjing, including various ancient     10     (tool) and two skulls belonging to an extinct species of early humans.

A stone tablet(牌匾)    1    (date) back to the year 1693, which falls within the Qing Dynasty(1644—1911), was discovered in Daming County, north China’s Hebei Province, said local authorities.

The tablet,    2     (find) in Jindong Village, measures 1.4 meters high, 0.61 meters wide, and 0.14 meters thick. Made of bluestone, it has     3     total of 307 characters on it.

The inscription(碑文)recorded the process of building the King of Medicine Temple in the county during the reign of Emperor Kangxi and     4     (describe) the grand occasions of temple fairs and humanistic stories at that time.

According to the inscription, after the     5     (complete) of the temple, the local medicine expert meeting     6    (organize) here on April 28 in most years of the Qing Dynasty, during     7     all kinds of talented people performed, and the vocal music lasted for more than ten days, said Wang Jianping, an expert in literature and history of the county.

This stone tablet is     8     (relative) well preserved with clear characters, which is significant for studying cultural and economic     9    (activity) in the southern part of Hebei during the Qing Dynasty. It also provides evidence     10     the researchers about the development of local pharmacies(制药), Wang said.

9 . Two thousand years ago, the ancient Roman city of Caesarea had the largest harbor on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a wonder of engineering for its time. Then disaster struck. Written records say a huge wave destroyed the harbor. What kind of wave caused it? Did it ally happen? No one had ever found the evidence of the wave... until now.

Dr Goodman is part of a team of scientists studying samples at Caesarea to figure out what happened in the past. A sample is taken by striking a tube into the seafloor. When the tube is pulled up, it contains sediments (沉淀物) that have collected on the seafloor for hundreds or thousands of years. Looking down through the mixture of sand, stones and other sediments is like looking back in time.

That’s what Dr. Goodman was doing when she found something astonishing. It was a layer (层) of shells — all came from the time the harbor was destroyed. Dr. Goodman knew this shell layer had a story to tell.

Usually, shells are part of the mixture of sediments collected on the seafloor. A shell layer is as thin as your finger. Yet Dr. Goodman was staring at a layer nearly 1 meter thick! Almost all the shells were broken.

The thick layer of broken shells meant a sudden, powerful event swept these shells into the area. The broken shells were evidence that a huge wave really did destroy the harbor. Dr. Goodman could even tell the direction of the wave from the way the shells lined up.

Here’s what Dr. Goodman thinks happened. First, an earthquake struck north of Caesarea along the coast. Energy from the movement of rock during the earthquake caused a tsunami. This huge wave raced across the sand and kicked up shells along the way and broke them into pieces. Finally, the wave crashed into the harbor and destroyed it.

Dr. Goodman plans to gather evidence for other ancient tsunamis along the Mediterranean coast. This will help her predict what areas are likely to be struck by future tsunamis. Then people can avoid building in these areas.