BEIJING - About 1,100
cultural relics were unearthed at Beijing Olympic venue construction sites last
year, state media reported on Thursday.
The relics were discovered at 10 different venues and included about 700
tombs dating from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) to the Qing Dynasty
(1644-1911), Xinhua news agency said, citing Shu Xiaofeng, deputy director of
the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics.
Beijing is building or renovating 31 venues for the Games, and has embarked
on a $40 billion upgrade of the city's infrastructure.
Last October, work was halted at the Beijing Olympic shooting venue after
workers found an imperial-era tomb several hundred metres away from the site of
several Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) tombs unearthed during construction of the
Beijing shooting range hall in May.
Archaeologists in Greece were also kept busy in the lead-up to the 2004
Athens Games, with antiquities discovered at several Olympic venue
sites.
