2 . When Howard Carter opened King Tut’s tomb (墓穴), it was full of gold and other valuables. When he and his team then attempted to remove King Tut’s mummy (木乃伊), they did a great deal of damage to the mummy while removing it.

Decades later, in 1968, experts conducted an examination of King Tut’s mummy using simple X-ray technology. Three important discoveries led to various theories about his death. First, the X-rays showed that bones in Tut’s chest were missing. Some guessed the damage was caused by a war injury or an accident. Plus, there was a small hole in the back of the skull (头骨), and pieces of bone inside it, causing many to believe that Tut was killed by a blow to the back of the head. Was he murdered by people wanting to take control of Egypt? Finally, a serious broken bone was discovered on Tut’s left leg. Tut was hurt a few hours before his death. This could have been the result of an accident. Could an infection from the injury have killed Tut?

In 2005, scientists under the direction of Zahi Hawass used new X-ray technology to study the mummy. They discovered that the damage to Tut’s chest was caused by Howard Carter, and the hole in Tut’s skull was made when the body was gotten ready for burial. While this ruled out the theory of murder, it still doesn’t tell us exactly how he died.

Then, in 2008, when Hawass and his team analyzed the DNA of the mummies and other tombs nearby, they made some shocking discoveries. They found Tut’s father and mother, who had similar DNA, were actually brother and sister. The DNA they passed on to Tut may have made it easy for him to catch a disease. Did an infection that started in his broken leg cause his death? No one knows for sure. But Hawass and his team hope they will someday have an answer to this age-old mystery.

Archaeologists have made a stunning discovery of more than 80 stone carvings and building units, dating back about 1,300 years, at the Leigutai caves of the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, Henan province. The Longmen Grottoes Research Institute,     1     oversees the UNESCO World Heritage Site, made the announcement as the Leigutai caves reopened to the public on Wednesday after renovation.

The relics, unearthed during renovation inside the west wall of the south cave of Leigutai, are believed to have been used as materials     2     (strengthen) the wall during restoration work after an earthquake struck the area in the 16th century.

“This is the first time archaeologists     3     (find) statues inside a wall at the Longmen Grottoes,” Lu Wei, director of the history and humanities research center of the institute, told China Daily. A well-preserved stone Buddha head, 38 centimeters in height and 22 centimeters in     4     (wide), is among the stunning finds. “Judging     5     the overall appearance, it has a distinctive artistic style     6     (associate) with the zenith of the Tang Dynasty,” he said.

Lu said the relics inside the wall     7     (be) probably part of cave debris after the quake. “The discovery has shed light on Buddhist statue art during the Tang Dynasty, the development of the Leigutai area, ancient socioeconomic development     8     religious practices,” he said.

Luoyang was the national capital during Empress Wu’s reign. Many members of the royal family and aristocracy then held the belief     9     building caves would bring them good fortune, thus gradually forming the large-scale Longmen Grottoes. During the Northern Song period (960-1127), Emperor Zhenzong (968-1022) paid a visit to the grottoes and ordered a major renovation at the site, repairing more than 15,000 statues.

In November 2000, the Longmen Grottoes were included on the UNESCO World Heritage list,     10     first such honor for an archaeological site in Henan.

Chinese scientists recreated the face of 6th Century monarch Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou using DNA     1     (remove) from his remains.     2     study suggests his death at the age of 36 might be linked to a stroke. It also casts light     3     the origin and migration patterns of a nomadic empire that once ruled parts of north eastern Asia.

Emperor Wu was a ruler of the Northern Zhou dynasty in ancient China, who was     4     (ethnic) Xianbei, an ancient nomadic group that lived in     5     is Mongolia today and northern and north eastern China.

Archaeologists discovered Emperor Wu’s tomb in north western China in 1996. They found his bones, a nearly complete skull     6     (include). With recent advances in ancient DNA research, study co-author Dr Shaoqing Wen of Fudan University in Shanghai, and his team were able to recover more than one million single-nucleotide polymorphisms (单核苷酸多态性) (SNPs) on his DNA, some of     7     contained information about the colour of Emperor Wu’s skin and hair.

The research team said Emperor Wu died at the age of 36, and his son also died at a young age with no clear reason. Some archaeologists say Emperor Wu died of illness,     8     others argue he was poisoned by his rivals. By analyzing Emperor Wu’s DNA, the research team found that the emperor was at an increased risk for stroke, which might     9     (contribute) to his death.

The finding is in     10     (correspond) with historical records that described the Emperor as having aphasia (失语症), drooping eyelids, , and an abnormal gait (步态) — potential symptoms of a stroke. Next, the research team plans to study the people who lived in ancient Chang’an city in north western China by studying their ancient DNA.

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.

8 . 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.

Located in Guanghan city of Southwest China’s Sichuan Province and covering an area of 12 square kilometers. Sanxingdui Site is the remains of the ancient Shu culture, which dates back     1     4,800-2,600 years ago, and is considered to be one of the     2     (great) archaeological (考古的) discoveries in the 20th century. This particular discovery is a strong proof of the     3     (exist) of the ancient Shu State and the integrative pattern of the multi-cultures of the Chinese nation.

In fact, as a cultural site,, Sanxingdui had come into the notice of archaeologists in as early as the 1930s, and     4     (exploration) were made soon. It all began     5     a farmer called Yan Daocheng dug out a number of treasures     6     (accidental) in the spring of 1929. In the summer of 1986, thousands of rare treasures were unearthed from two large newly-discovered sacrificial pits (祭祀坑). The unearthed objects are unique in shape and superior in techniques,     7     (confirm) the extraordinary creativity of the ancient Shu people and their desires     8     (connect) with and understand the universe.

After sleeping for 3,000 years, their awakening has shocked the world. When our eyes     9     (caught) by the creations of the ancient Shu ancestors, it is     10     encounter with a civilization lost for 3,000 years.