Olympics-1,100 relics unearthed at Beijing venue sites

BEIJING, Jan 18 (Reuters) About 1,100 cultural relics were unearthed at Beijing Olympic venue construction sites last year, state media reported today.

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 dollar 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.

Reuter SP GC1206