BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The following are highlights of China's archaeological news from the past week:

-- ANCIENT DINOSAUR FOOTPRINTS

Paleontologists announced Tuesday in Beijing they had discovered a group of 100-million-year-old fossils of dinosaur footprints in east China's Zhejiang Province.

Over 20 footprints, ranging from 22.7 cm to 82 cm in length, were discovered in a village in the city of Lanxi. Experts estimate the dinosaurs' body length ranged from 3.8 to 14 meters.

The footprints are believed to date back 100 million years to the Cretaceous Period, indicating that a large number of sauropods were active in the area, which was believed to be rich in water and grass at that time.

-- RARE CAMBRIAN FOSSILS

Scientists have discovered well-preserved fossils of Cambrian arthropod Sidneyia in east China's Shandong Province, which is believed to be the first time that the genus has been found outside of Laurentia.

As a typical species of the Burgess Shale-type biota, Sidneyia fossils have been identified only in Canada since it was reported in 1911. The new discovery suggested a much greater distribution of the genus.

-- OLD STONE TABLET

An old stone tablet recording a tax reduction was recently discovered in northern China's Hebei Province.

Dating back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), the tablet was set up in 1845 and was unearthed in Yanli Township, Nanhe County.

Measuring 95 cm in height, 52 cm in width and 16 cm in thickness, the 174-year-old tablet has a 263-word inscription carved on the surface.

-- LARGE-SCALE PALACE RELICS

Chinese archaeologists have discovered two large-scale palace relics in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The palace relics were found in the millennium-old ruins of the capital city of the Liao Dynasty (916-1125) by archaeologists with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and regional institute of cultural relics and archaeology of Inner Mongolia. Enditem

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