The discovery of Yin Ruins dating back over 3,000 years in Anyang County of central China's Henan Province was ranked first in China's selection of 100 most important archaeological discoveries in the 20th century.

The Institute of Archaeology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Thursday announced the final result of the selection among nearly 10,000 archaeological discoveries in China over the past 100 years.

Other world famous discoveries such as Peking Man at Zhoukoudian in southwestern Beijing, the Neolithic site at Banpo Village at the eastern outskirts of Xi'an in Shaanxi Province, the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in northwest China's Gansu Province, and the terra-cotta horses and warriors at the Mausoleum Emperor Qin in Xi'an were also in the list.

The 20th century witnessed the development and prosperity of archaeology in China, and the selection is the largest ever in the country, involving experts from eight state-level archaeological research organs, 28 provincial institutes and 11 prestigious universities across China.

Liu Qingzhu, director of the Institute of Archaeology, said that each of the selected 100 discoveries is of great academic value and has a significant impact on society.

Among the 100 most important discoveries, seven date back to the Paleolithic age (500,000 to 10,000 years ago), 30 date back to the Neolithic age (10,000 to 4,000 years ago), 23 are from the period between 21st century BC and 221 BC, 24 are from the period between 221 BC and AD 581, and the other 16 go back to later than AD 581.

(People’s Daily 03/30/2001)