BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhua) -- The following are highlights of China's key news on archaeology from the past week:

-- Rare underground ancestral hall in tombs

Rare underground ancestral hall in tombs dating back to the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) was found in north China's Shanxi Province.

The hall, with a square side length of 1 meter and 1.16 meters under the ground surface, was unearthed in the city of Yangquan, Shanxi, along with two damaged tombs.

Ancient relics of pottery pots, porcelain balls, coins and mirrors were also unearthed in the hall and the two south-faced ancient tombs, octagonal shaped, were built with bricks.

According to their location, decoration and the unearthed objects, the relics are confirmed to be built in the same period, a rare scene in the Yuan Dynasty.

-- 160 ancient tombs

Archaeologists in central China's Henan Province discovered 160 ancient tombs.

The tombs are believed to have been built during the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-220 A.D.). More than 1,000 cultural relics were unearthed from the tombs, including bronzeware, ironware and pottery. Many ancient coins were also discovered.

Archaeologists said that the tombs belonged to civilians rather than royal families.

-- Ancient bamboo slips recording agricultural knowledge

Chinese archaeologists unearthed a large number of bamboo slips in central China's Hubei Province, dating back to the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-220 A.D.).

A total of 4,546 bamboo and wooden slips were excavated from a tomb, among which more than 1,000 bamboo slips have been cleaned and scanned, and paleographers are currently trying to interpret them.

Based on some phrases and words being recognized, those bamboo and wooden slips were confirmed to be related to farming knowledge, annals and laws.

The NO. 767 bamboo slip depicted people using cinnamon to whiten teeth in the past, while the NO. 833 bamboo slip recorded a feed formulation for cattle. Enditem

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