Guangzhou's five major archaeological discoveries of 2014 revealed

The Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology of Guangzhou recently unveiled five major discoveries in 2014 ahead of the 10^th Chinese Cultural Heritage Day, which falls on Saturday.

The discoveries include the first three unearthed ancient boats in Guangzhou's old districts and the remains of city walls built during the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279) and the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644), that are on the list of China's 38 most important archeological discoveries in 2014 by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

To maximize publicity, the institute released information on the five archeological discoveries one after another each day from Sunday to Thursday.

The institute on Saturday will also hold a photo exhibition to showcase the city's 2,000 years of splendid heritage,   as well as activities for people to experience an archeologist's work, such as repairing rubbings and going down into digs.

The theme of the Chinese Cultural Heritage Day this year is "protect achievements and share with the public", which is what the institute has been endeavoring to do, said Yi Xibing, the institute's deputy director.

"People's knowledge about archeology is still insufficient and some young people, influenced by popular fiction like The Lost Tomb, romanticize the rigorous work or even mistake archeology as robbing a tomb," Yi told China Daily. Also, we need to organize more interesting events besides exhibitions in museums to increase the public's participation in archeology."

The five major archeological discoveries in Guangzhou in 2014  were: three wooden boats that date back to the middle of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911); the best preserved remains of city walls built during the Song Dynasty in Guangzhou; 220 relics dating from the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) and 1,800 years before the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) that were discovered in the upper reaches of the Liuxi River; the tombs discovered on Hengfu Road that were mainly built during the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and the riverbank  structures built during the Southern Han Dynasty (917-971) and the Song Dynasty along today's YuexiuZhong Lu (Road).