Study Buddy: Sanxingdui Ruins’ 13,000 ancient artefacts shed light on mysterious Chinese culture, Shu Kingdom

3. Why do you think governments consider archaeology important?

Read the following text and answer questions 1-18.

Adapted from “Sanxingdui Ruins: treasure trove of 13,000 ancient artefact sheds light on mysterious Chinese kingdom” and “Why archaeologists are so excited by China’s Sanxingdui ruins” by Echo Xie, South China Morning Post, 14 and 15 June 2022.

Questions (38 marks)

1. Use a word or phrase to replace “unearthed” (line 1).

2. What does “The finds” in line 2 refer to?

3. Decide whether the following statements are True, False, or the information is Not Given in paragraphs 1 to 3. (5 marks)
(i) The box containing a green jade (paragraph 1) was wrapped in silk to protect it from dirt.
(ii) The artefacts found at the Sanxingdui Ruins date back 4,500 years.
(iii) The box containing a green jade was found in a sacrificial pit.
(iv) More than 4,000 of the artefacts uncovered at the site are largely complete.
(v) Written historical records of the Shu Kingdom have yet to be discovered.

4. Which of the following adjectives best describe Professor Li Haichao’s tone in paragraph 2?
A. curious
B. confused
C. complacent
D. excited

5. “The vessel” in line 8 refers to ...
A. the ruins.
B. a sacrificial pit.
C. a bronze box.
D. a green jade.

6. “The site” in line 9 refers to …
A. Sichuan University.
B. the Sanxingdui Ruins.
C. the Institute.
D. the country’s southwest.

7. Decide whether the following statements about paragraphs 2 and 3 are Fact or Opinion. (4 marks)
(i) The Sanxingdui site is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
(ii) A farmer discovered the Sanxingdui site.
(iii) “I feel it is an unprecedented discovery.”
(iv) About 13,000 items were uncovered at the site.

8. What three bronze artefacts from the site’s recent finds are mentioned in paragraph 4? (3 marks)

9. What was the controversy mentioned in paragraph 6?

10. Complete the notes below. Choose only ONE word from paragraphs 1 to 6 for each answer. (4 marks)
(i) The Sanxingdui Ruins ___________________ was discovered in the 1920s.
(ii) A farmer ____________________ more than 400 jade artefacts while digging.
(iii) Among the 13,000 items found at the Sanxingdui Ruins site was a box made of ____________________ with a green jade inside it.
(iv) There had been a long-standing disagreement about the ____________________ of the pits.

11. According to paragraph 7, what is the main difference between the Sanxingdui ivories and the Jinsha pieces?

12. Find a word in paragraph 7 that means “buried”.

13. What does “they” in line 29 refer to?

14. Based on the information in paragraph 7, complete the summary below by writing a word that best fits each blank. Your answers must be grammatically correct. (3 marks)

The ruins are believed to have been part of the Shu Kingdom, which (i) ________________ back about 4,500 years. There are no written records explaining the (ii) ________________________ of these ancient people or the meaning of the (iii) ____________________ recently unearthed.

15. Match the main points (A-F) with one of the corresponding paragraphs on the left. Write the correct letter (A-F) on the line next to the paragraph number. ONE main point is not used. (5 marks)

16. Based on the information in paragraph 8, complete the summary by writing a word that best fits the paragraph in each blank below. Your answers must be grammatically correct. (3 marks)

According to Ran Honglin, (i) ______________ have learned only about important people in society so far, but they want to learn more about the common (ii) __________________. To do this, they will restore the overall appearance of the Shu Kingdom capital, including the worksite to learn about where people lived, died and made the (iii) __________________ used in rituals.

17. According to Ran Honglin in paragraph 9, which of the following is NOT true?
A. A bronze sculpture depicts a human head and a snake body.
B. The pedestal shows the period before the Western Zhou dynasty.
C. The zun is characteristic of the ancient culture of central China.
D. The zun forms the base of the bronze sculpture.

18. According to Ran Honglin in paragraph 10, the people of Sanxingdui ...
A. came from all parts of China.
B. travelled all around China spreading their cultural beliefs.
C. had a culture that was similar to those in other parts of China.
D. got their beliefs from the provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan and Shandong.

• archaeologist (n) (lines 1, 13, 24, 27) – a person who studies parts of buildings, graves, tools and other objects of people who lived in the past

• excavate (vb) (line 21) – dig in the ground to find old objects to discover things about the past

• fire (vb) (lines 30, 31) – bake in a kiln to harden

• groundbreaking (adj) (line 6) – something like nothing ever done or found before

• inter (vb) (line 31) – bury in a tomb or grave

• pedestal (n) (lines 41, 42) – a base or foundation that supports a statue or work of art.

• relic (n) (line 29) – an object or fragment from the past

• ritual (adj, n) (lines 34, 36) – a ceremony or action always performed in the same way

• shed light on (vb phr) (line 2) – provide further information or make something easier to understand

• unprecedented (adj) (line 7) – never happened or been done before

In each blank, place one word or phrase from the box, and use the correct form of the word.

1. While the theory is widely accepted today, it was ____________________ in the early 50s because it changed the way historians at the time viewed the development of civilisation.

2. Last month, archaeologists ____________________ the remains of 23 men, women and children from the ancient tombs.

3. With the surge of population and industrial activity over the past two hundred years, the environment has come under ____________________ stress.

4. Police wanted to speak to a man who was seen at the crime scene because he might be able to ____________________ what happened.

5. What did people believe would happen if the ceremony’s ____________________ were not observed?

6. In 1853, the ____________________ Austen Henry Layard and his team excavated the palace library in the ancient Assyrian Empire’s capital, Nineveh.

7. About 400 ____________________, including silverware, jade ware, copperware, ironware and earthenware, were found at the excavation site.

8. Although Christopher Columbus was initially ____________________ in Spain after his death in 1506, his bones were moved several times over the course of 400 years.

9. A marble bust of Italian poet Dante was placed on a ____________________ beneath the window.

10. Pottery in Texas was ____________________ in a groundhog kiln, so named because part of the kiln was buried in the earth, like a groundhog’s home.

In 1997, in a dig on Ma Wan, an island located between Lantau Island and Tsing Yi Island, 20 graves were uncovered with cultural relics dating back to the Late Neolithic Age (4,000–6,000 years ago) and Early Bronze Age (2,500–4,000 years ago). Mainland experts selected it as one of China’s most important archaeological discoveries of the year. The artefacts were dug up, studied by archaeologists and put in storage.

Write an essay of about 400 words discussing the value of these artefacts, how they could be used to teach young people about Hong Kong’s ancient heritage, and what you think should have been done with the site: turn it into a museum, use it for housing, etc. Give your essay a title.

1. Pre-reading questions – sample responses

1. Do you know what archaeologists do?
Yes, they study man-made objects from the distant past to learn about how people lived in ancient times. Of course, much of what we know about the past comes from archaeologists.

2. What has archaeology taught us about Hong Kong’s past?
We learned a bit about Hong Kong archaeology in general studies in lower forms, and I’ve watched a few YouTube videos about archaeological discoveries in other parts of the world. But I like visiting Hong Kong’s outlying islands, like Lantau, Lamma and Cheung Chau, and there have been a lot of discoveries on those islands – 3,000-year-old rock carvings on Lantau and Cheung Chau, and 5,000-year-old cultural relics on Lamma Island, for example.

3. Why do you think governments consider archaeology important?
It’s part of our history, so it’s part of who we are. It allows us to travel back in time to see how people lived, and it helps show the relationships between groups in the past, how and where people moved, and why people settled here in Hong Kong. I think most people like reading novels and watching films about the past. They are more interesting if they are based on fact.

2. Comprehension (38 marks)

1. dug up / excavated / discovered
2. a trove of mysterious artefacts
3. (i) NG (ii) F (iii) T (iv) F (v) T
4. D
5. C
6. B
7. (i) Op (ii) F (iii) Op (iv) F
8. (i) a bronze sacrificial altar (with figures of humans and a sacred animal); (ii) a bronze sculpture (with a human head and snake body); (iii) a (dragon-shaped ) bronze statue (with a pig’s nose)
9. It was about whether the sacrificial pits date back to more than 3,000 years ago. / It was about the age of the sacrificial pits.
10. (i) site; (ii) unearthed / uncovered / discovered; (iii) bronze; (iv) age
11. Most of the Sanxingdui ivories were fired before they were buried, while the Jinsha pieces were interred without firing.
12. interred
13. (people of) the Shu Kingdom
14. (i) dates; (ii) origin; (iii) relics / objects / artefacts
15. (i) D; (ii) F; (iii) A; (iv) C; (v) B
16. (i) experts; (ii) people / population; (iii) handicrafts
17. D
18. C

3. Vocabulary practice

1. groundbreaking
2. excavated
3. unprecedented
4. shed light on
5. rituals
6. archaeologist
7. relics
8. interred
9. pedestal
10. fired

4. Writing: Sample answer (395 words)

Give Hong Kong’s architectural treasures a real home

In 1997, an archaeology dig on Ma Wan Island unearthed 20 graves containing cultural relics dating back 2,500 to 6,000 years. It was considered so important that mainland archaeology experts selected it as one of China’s most important archaeological discoveries of the year.

These artefacts and those found in many other sites all around Hong Kong show that the city has a rich history in production and trade, which residents may not be aware of. We may read a news article about them once in a while or see them in occasional exhibitions organised by the Hong Kong Museum of History, but most people have no opportunity to learn more about this aspect of our ancient history. Most young people may not be aware of the meaning and value of these relics for our cultural heritage.

While Hong Kong has a shortage of affordable housing, it is still better for the land to be used for a museum displaying the artefacts uncovered at the site. Part of the museum could also display artefacts from other related archaeological sites in Hong Kong. It would be more meaningful for residents to see the pottery, stone tools, ornaments, and other artefacts where they were found. They would more easily be able to imagine how the ancient people lived and why they chose to settle in that location.

The museum could also be promoted as a tourist destination. For tourists as well, the relics would have more meaning if they were displayed on the site where they were found compared to being displayed in Tsim Sha Tsui. When people visit Hong Kong, it can be easy to just focus on the city’s modern advancements and sky-high buildings. But if they learn about early Hong Kong settlers, they will better understand how this place came to be.

For students, a well-planned and documented museum would provide an excellent way to learn about Hong Kong’s early settlers, who lived here thousands of years ago. Teachers could create lessons about the city’s ancient history, so when students visit the museum on a field trip, they will see the facts come to life. A museum guide can weave a story about the artefacts and the ancient society that used them. This will help pupils remember and treasure what they learn about Hong Kong history. These relics belong in living museums, not in storage.

For ideas, see: https://www.scmp.com/article/656303/treated-dirt

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