Weekly snapshot of China's archaeological news
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E-mail Xinhua, December 14, 2019
BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The following are highlights of China's archaeological news from the past week:
-- Rare cliff paintings
Two cliff paintings featuring images of human faces and over 100 tower-shaped cliff paintings have been discovered in the Tongtian River basin in northwest China's Qinghai Province, local authorities said Wednesday.
They were engraved in a mountain located about 600 meters from the river in the source region of the Yangtze River in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
The paintings of human faces are round-shaped and measure about 30 cm and 35 to 40 cm in diameter, respectively.
So far, 3,400 cliff paintings have been discovered in 59 sites along the Tongtian River, which feature images including vehicles, animals and symbols.
-- 500-yr-old eggs
Archaeologists in southwest China's Sichuan Province said Monday they had found a jar of rice and unbroken eggs that date back more than 500 years.
The jar was discovered from a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) tomb in a park in the city of Guang'an, said Tang Yunmei, curator of the Guang'an City Museum. Its epitaph suggests the tomb belonged to Yang Ming, who died in 1501, and his two wives.
The eggs with intact shells were buried in the rice within the jar. Their number was yet to be verified, researchers said.
Discoveries of unbroken eggs from ancient tombs are extremely rare in China.
-- 265-yr-old stone tablet
An ancient stone tablet dating back 265 years ago was found in north China's Hebei Province, local authorities said.
Archaeologists believe the stone tablet was erected in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) during the reign of Emperor Qianlong, according to the cultural relics protection department of Nanhe County.
The tablet, which is 245 cm tall, 92 cm wide and 26 cm thick, was found in Dongguan Village of the county. With a 416-character inscription, the tablet recorded the scale and renovation of the "Kuixing" building, which provided a place for ancient intellectuals to pray for blessings. Enditem
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