China's top archaeological discoveries of 2025

A list of China's top six archaeological discoveries of 2025, one of the highest honors for the country's archaeological projects, was released by the Institute of Archaeology with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing on Wednesday.

1. The Xinmiaozhuang site in Yangyuan county, Hebei province

The Xinmiaozhuang site is preserved in a distinct geographical unit, where six phases of cultural remains dating back to the Late Pleistocene, spanning from approximately 129,000 to 11,700 years ago, have been unearthed. This period is a critical stage in the origin and evolution of modern humans, and the site holds significant value for exploring key issues, including the origins and evolution of modern humans in North China and the transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic.