page_title: China's 100 major archaeological discoveries in the 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: China's 100 major archaeological discoveries in the 20th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Oracle bone from the reign of King Wu Ding (late Shang dynasty).
context_page_description: In 2001, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences organized a poll for China's 100 major archaeological discoveries in the 20th century. The participants included eight national-level institutions for archaeology and cultural relics, provincial-level archaeological institutes from 28 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, as well as from Hong Kong, the archaeological departments of 11 major national universities, and many other scholars in Beijing. After three months and three rounds of voting, the results were announced on 29 March 2001 and were published in the journal Kaogu. In 2002, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Press published the book China's 100 Major Archaeological Discoveries in the 20th Century, with more than 500 pages and 1,512 pictures.
  Among all the candidates, the late-Shang dynasty capital Yinxu received the highest number of votes.
context_section_description: In 2001, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences organized a poll for China's 100 major archaeological discoveries in the 20th century (Chinese: 中国20世纪100项考古大发现). The participants included eight national-level institutions for archaeology and cultural relics, provincial-level archaeological institutes from 28 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, as well as from Hong Kong, the archaeological departments of 11 major national universities, and many other scholars in Beijing. After three months and three rounds of voting, the results were announced on 29 March 2001 and were published in the journal Kaogu (Archaeology). In 2002, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Press published the book China's 100 Major Archaeological Discoveries in the 20th Century (二十世纪中国百项考古大发现), with more than 500 pages and 1,512 pictures.
  Among all the candidates, the late-Shang dynasty capital Yinxu received the highest number of votes. Other sites that received high votes include Zhoukoudian, Banpo, Erlitou, Sanxingdui, Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor and the Terracotta Army, Han dynasty Chang'an, Juyan Han ruins, the Yungang Grottoes, the Longmen Grottoes, the Dunhuang Grottoes, Luoyang of Sui–Tang dynasties, and the Dingling mausoleum.
  Of the 100 discoveries selected, 51% were made by scientific initiative, whereas 31% were made accidentally and 10% were rescue archaeology. More than half of the academic discoveries were made in the Yellow River region, reflecting the traditional view, held by most archaeologists until the 1980s, that the Chinese civilization originated there. By contrast, other regions such as the Yangtze River valley accounted for two thirds of the accidental discoveries, typically found during construction.
caption: An inscribed oracle bone from Yinxu, which received the most votes in the poll
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon DIGITAL IXUS 75", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Live Photo Gallery14.0.8081.709", "Image DateTime": "2012:11:28 01:27:45", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2320", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "7694", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3470", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/6", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:08:02 08:12:31", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:08:02 08:12:31", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "83/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "10093/1000", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1733", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2669", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3072", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2304", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "7530", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "40960/3", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2304000/169", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "6A777FDB62794F189BECA59B67EB8FB3", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4196"}