Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient     1     (bury) town in Ethiopia that was inhabited for 1, 400 years. The town was part of a powerful civilisation called Aksum that dominated East Africa for centuries.

“This is one of the most important ancient     2     (civilisation), but people in the Western world don't know it,” says Michael Harrower, who has thrown himself     3    the study of the surrounding area. After discussions with the local people, the archaeologists set out     4     (dig) near a village, where they found piles of stone wall spread over fourteen hectares of land, which turned out to be a hill created by     5     (ruin).

According to Michael, future research at the site has the potential to clarify a range of topics, including the rise of one of Africa's first complex societies. Currently, they plan to do a further     6     (investigate) to look     7    this complex, yet still rather mysterious, society.

The Terracotta Army (兵马俑) was found in 1974 near Xi’an. It is formed of more than 8,000 sculptures, which     1     (bury) alongside the emperor Qin Shi Huang more than 2,200 years ago. Now, researchers have recreated the shoes of one soldier and analysis of them     2     (suggest) that shoes worn by the terracotta sculptures were surprisingly flexible and slip resistant. If the recreated shoes     3     (true) reflect the real ones, they can help build a better picture of     4     Qin dynasty soldiers wore and how this might have aided them in battles.

On Feb 8, 2001, workers at a construction site in Jinsha village, Chengdu, found many pieces of ivory and jade and the hidden ruins of the capital of the ancient Shu Kingdom were brought     1    light by archaeologists. Among the over 5,000 precious relics     2    (excavate)from the ruins, the most eye-catching is the Golden Sun Bird. It is made from delicate gold foil(箔), just one     3    (five)of a millimeter thick. It has two sections: The center is a sun pattern with 12 rays     4    (indicate)the rotation(自转)of the sun and around the sun are four birds flying anticlockwise. According to archaeologists, the four birds symbolize four seasons, while the 12 rays     5    (mean)to represent 12 months of the year. Hence, it could be inferred that over 3000 years ago ancient Shu people possessed     6     good knowledge of astronomy and nature. Furthermore, this masterpiece is believed to be an illustration of an ancient Chinese myth recorded in the classic The Legends of Mountains and Seas,     7     was written about 2,500 years ago. According to the book, ancient people believed the sun was carried up     8    down by birds daily.

In 2005, the pattern was     9    (successful)selected as the symbol of China’s cultural heritage to showcase the ancient Chinese people’s     10    ( wise)and aspirations.

In early November in 2023, a diver, swimming off the coast of Sardinia,     1     (notice) pieces of metal on the ocean floor. He called the authorities and more divers were sent to look. The pieces turned out to be ancient Roman coins. The coins mostly lay     2     (bury) in sand and seagrass not far from the coast. It is said that more than 30, 000 coins have been found,     3     are close to 2, 000 years old. Experts call this a major historical discovery.

The saying ‘All roads lead to Xianyang’ may not be widely known, but it is the     1    (true)in history. After Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, unified the country in 221 BCE, he began building state-level roads, Xianyang     2    the center. Several long roads were therefore completed,     3    (cover) a distance of about 750 kilometers, running through plains, mountains, grasslands, deserts, and finally leading to Xianyang, the capital city.

Like the Great Wall, these roads,     4    (call) Qin Zhidao, literally the Qin Direct Paths or Qin Highways, are considered another miracle in Qin Dynasty. Generally, the roads were 20 to 60 meters wide and 50 cars could run side by side at the same time on their     5     (wide) sections. The firmly made surface     6    (shape) like a turtle back above the ground to avoid standing water at that time. Another amazing fact is that grass     7    (rare)grow on the road and many parts are still in good condition even today.

The mysterious ancient roads,     8     date back over 2,200 years and predate the Roman Roads by over 200 years, are known to be     9     natural museum in the history of road construction. Historians evaluate it this way: if the Great Wall is compared to a defensive shield (盾牌), then Qin Zhidao is the weapon     10    (guard) the stability and prosperity (繁荣) of the Qin Empire.

Originally unearthed in the late 1920s, the Sanxingdui Ruins have been regarded as one of the world’s greatest archaeological     1     (finding) of the 20th century. In July this year, a     2     (new) completed exhibition hall at the world-famous Sanxingdui Museum opened in Guanghan, Sichuan Province.

    3     (cover) an area of nearly 55,000 square meters, the exhibition hall is now the largest single exhibition building showcasing the cultural relics     4     (dig) from historical sites in southwest China. The new hall     5     (hold) more than 1,500 cultural items, with 600 of them on show for the first time.

One iconic (标志性的) exhibit is the four-meter-tall bronze sacred tree,     6     takes up the central position in the new hall. And it makes a much     7     (strong) visual impression than it did in the old hall. The bronze altar (青铜神坛) that was discovered last year is also     8     impressive piece of artwork. It is made up of three parts and shows ancient sacrificial (献祭的) scenes.

Divided into three themed areas, the exhibition hall makes use of a range of new technologies     9     (celebrate) the cultural features and social development of the Shu civilization. It also shows China’s latest achievements     10     archaeological research.

More than 3,000 stone tools have been unearthed during the latest work at the Piluo site, a large-scale Paleolithic site     1     can date back to more than 200,000 years ago in Daocheng county, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, reported by the Sichuan TV on Monday.

The Piluo site,     2     (locate) at the southeastern foothills of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau at an altitude of about 3,750 meters,     3     (reveal) more than 15,000 stone artifacts, including hand axes (斧头) and thin-blade axes, since the beginning of the archaeological excavations (考古挖掘) in April 2021.

The latest stage, kicking off in July, was the third of its kind and covered about 150 square meters,     4     (provide) archaeologists with crucial materials to comprehend the stratigraphic accumulation, artifact distribution and stone tool making across     5     (difference) regions of the site.

According to     6     same report, during this year’s excavation, archaeologists found out that some areas had layers (层) which were     7     (little) than a meter thick, while others had layers as thick as seven to eight meters. This variability allowed them     8     (construct) a time framework spanning from 200,000 years ago to tens of thousands of years ago.

The     9     (discovery) at Piluo site have been listed     10     one of China’s top 10 archaeological revelations of 2021, recognized by the National Cultural Heritage Administration.