Seven archaeological discoveries in 2005 are considered the most significant in China. The selection result, unveiled on Jan. 10 by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, is thought the most authoritative one.

An early New Stone Age human skeleton buried with bent limps that lived about 9,000 years ago was discovered in Donghulin Village of Zhaitang Town in Beijing's Mentouguo District.

This prehistoric site shed new light on human activities in North China during early New Stone Age.

A worship site discovered in the Gaomiao ashes in central China's Hunan province indicates the people there enjoyed a rich spiritual life 7,400 years ago, making it so far the oldest religious site discovered in China.

The site outlines a picture of prehistoric religious ceremony, providing valuable information on ancient food structure and ecological environment as well as the origin of husbandry.

Mound tombs dating back to the Zhou Dynasty (11th century- 256 BC) were discovered in Jurong and Jintan of East China's Jiangsu Province, from which more than 3,800 relics with South China features were extracted.

The discovery gave clues to the relations between central China and aboriginal cultures in Zhou times as well as the integration process of the Chinese civilization.

Bronzeware from a group of 3,000-year-old tombs, which archaeologists said belonged to the royal family of Western Zhou Dynasty (1100 BC-771 BC), was unearthed at Hengshui Village of Jiangxian County, northern China's Shanxi Province.

Some bronzeware artifacts were inscribed with epigraphs totaling 230 characters, which experts say provide valuable assets to the cultural research in the area.

A total number of 65 tombs dating back to the Bronze Age were unearthed at Liushui Village, Yutian County of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Preliminary analysis on human bones extracted here showed that 3,000 years ago inhabitants at the northern slope of the Kunlun Mount were already highly mixed groups.

A grand gate of the 1,300-year-old Daming Palace, the largest imperial architectural complex of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), was discovered in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The Danfeng Gate, or Vermillion Phoenix Gate, of the Daming Palace, had five doorways, which means it was the largest-scale imperial palace gate in Chinese history.

Stable isotope analysis such as on 13C and 15N extracted from unearthed ancient human bones has played an active role in archeological studies. It provides an important reference for researches into ancient food structure, environment and agriculture. 

Editor: Yan