Latest Achievements of the Project to Trace the Origins of Chinese Civilization 

Undated photo shows a criss-cross road layout at the Erlitou Relics site in Yanshi, central China’s Henan Province. Chinese archaeologists announced on November 15, 2020 that they have discovered the country’s earliest multi-grid city layout at a large relics site that dates back 3,500 to 3,800 years. The ruins of parallel roads and walls were found at the Erlitou Relics site, which served as the capital city for the middle and late periods of the Xia Dynasty (around 2070 BC-1600 BC), China’s earliest dynasty ever known (XINHUA) 

Sanxingdui Museum 

This file photo taken in March 2022 shows Guo Hanzhong cleaning a bronze vessel at Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan City, southwest China’s Sichuan Province. The 58-year-old man is skilled in the craft of restoring cultural relics. In the past 40 years, he has restored more than 6,000 cultural relic items and was deeply involved in the excavation of all the eight “sacrificial pits” found at Sanxingdui Ruins site (XINHUA) 

Relics of the Main Tomb of Liu He, the Marquis of Haihun 

This photo taken on December 15, 2023 shows a replica of the main tomb of Liu He, the Marquis of Haihun, at the protection and display facility of the tomb in Nanchang, east China’s Jiangxi Province (XINHUA) 

Excavation of the Nanhai No. 1 Shipwreck 

A gold-plated ring found on the wreckage of Nanhai No. 1 is displayed at the Maritime Silk Road Museum on Hailing Island of Yangjiang, south China’s Guangdong Province, on May 12, 2020. The excavation of the Nanhai No. 1, a shipwreck dating back to the Song Dynasty (960 A.D.-1279 A.D.), was listed by China in its top 10 archaeological discoveries for 2019. More than 180,000 relics including porcelain products, gold, silver, copper and iron relics and coins have been found from this ancient merchant ship (XINHUA)