BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- The following are highlights of China's key news on archaeology from the past week:

-- "Elixir of immortality" found in central China's ancient tomb

About 3.5 liters of liquid was excavated from the tomb of a noble family in the city of Luoyang in central China's Henan Province last October. The tomb dates back to the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-8 AD).

Archaeologists thought the liquid was liquor, but further lab research found that the liquid is made up of potassium nitrate and alunite, the main ingredients of an immortality medicine mentioned in an ancient Taoist text, according to Pan Fusheng, leading archaeologist of the excavation project.

"It is the first time that mythical 'immortality medicines' have been found in China," said Shi Jiazhen, head of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in Luoyang.

-- 2,700-year-old bronze ware casting ruins unearthed

The ruins of a bronze ware casting workshop dating back some 2,700 years were unearthed in central China's Henan Province.

Furnaces, polishing stones, blowers used for blowing air into fireplaces, ladles that poured molten bronze into molds and their pieces were excavated at the ruins of Guanzhuang in Xingyang, the western part of the provincial capital Zhengzhou.

Some 3,000 molds, including those to make musical instruments, weapons, chariots and horse devices, have been unearthed at the workshop covering 2,000 square meters.

-- Fossil palm trees shed light on formation of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Researchers from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) collected fossil palm leaves during field tours as part of the second expedition on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Su Tao, a leading scientist of the study from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, said the central part of the plateau did not reach its current altitude of about 4,500 meters until 23 million years ago. The conclusion challenges the prevailing view that the process happened about 35 million years ago. Enditem

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