Tombs dating back to 4th century discovered in Shaanxi Province

（文章来源：Global Times）

A cemetery with 285 tombs dating back to the 4th century has been unearthed in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, reported the state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday, citing the Xi'an Institute of Cul-tural Relics and Archaeology. The discovery not only sheds light on the evolution of the burial and sacrifi-cial system in ancient times, but also contributes to studies on population mixing and ethnic integration.

The tombs, which span a time from the Sixteen Kingdoms period (304-439) to the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907), were found in an orderly aligned layout. The cemetery stands as the largest independent cemetery from the period found to date. 

All the tombs in the cemetery are oriented toward the east. This practice was consistently maintained from the early years of the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Tang Dynasty, spanning over 300 years. Archaeologists say this demonstrates strong uniqueness and stability.

The find also represents a crucial link in the evolution of ancient Chinese burial practices, showcasing a unique blend of burial systems spanning from the independent mausoleum traditions of the Warring States period to the family cemetery systems of the Northern Dynasties (439-581) and Sui and Tang dynasties, according to the report. Archaeologists say the excavation of the graveyard helps shed light on the evolution of the burial and sacrificial system in northern China in the Sixteen Kingdoms period and Northern Dynasties. In addition, pottery figurines, pottery stoves and kettles, pottery lanterns and epitaph bricks imprinted with characters identifying the year the brick was made were unearthed from the tombs.

The evolving burial styles and accompanying artifacts within the cemetery suggest a cultural synthesis. The inhabitants of this cemetery adhered to their ethnic traditions while adapting elements of Han Chinese culture. This reflects the gradual integration of ethnic minorities who migrated to the Central Plains during the Sixteen Kingdoms and Northern Dynasties period, providing valuable insights into the complex historical and cultural dynamics of the Chang'an (the old name for Xi'an and capital of the Tang Dynasty) region over the 300 years spanning the Northern Dynasties and the Sui and Tang. 

The discovery will also contribute to studies on population mixing and ethnic integration in the Chang'an area, serving as an important manifestation of the characteristics of Chinese civilization, emphasizing "inclusive integration and unity in diversity," according to the report.

When Richard Oswald was growing up in northwestern Missouri in the 1950s, his dad had a firm rule: Don't plant corn until mid-May. But that rule has become a relic of the past. In Rock Port, a small farming community near the Nebraska border, the growing season now begins more than a month earlier.

That's not surprising. Across much of the US, winter is not as cold as it used to be. The four warmest Januaries on record have all occurred since 2016. In Missouri, winters are about 4 degrees hotter on average than in 1970-and farmers are starting to feel the effects.

As the planet continues to warm, cold winter weather will become less common, said Amy Butler, a re-search scientist studying climate variability. "However, less cold does not mean never cold." Butler said. In the past decade, Liz Graznak's organic vegetable farm near Columbia, Missouri, has endured increasingly extreme swings in weather. "We don't get a couple of inches of snow; we get 18 inches of snow all at once and then in five days, it's 70 degrees again." Graznak said. "We don't get a couple of inches of rain; we get a 12-inch downpour in the span of 24 hours. That's devastating(毁灭性的)to a vegetable farm."

To help protect her crops, Graznak has built four large greenhouses on her property in just over a decade. Inside, she's able to grow delicate, high-value crops, including flowers, lettuce and spinach.

But these greenhouses come at a steep cost. Nearly seven years ago, Graznak spent more than $18,000 to build a greenhouse and since then, the price has more than doubled. "When I think about these costs, in my brain, I say, ‘OK, how many heads of lettuce is that?'" She said. "I know I can sell a head of lettuce for $4, so how many heads of lettuce do I have to sell to be able to pay for that greenhouse? And that's a lot of lettuce."

Nowadays, people are increasingly interacting with others in social media environments where algorithms control the flow of social information they see. People's interactions with online algorithms may affect how they learn from others, with negative consequences including social misperceptions, conflict and the spread of misinformation.

On social media platforms, algorithms are mainly designed to amplify (放大) information that sustains engagement, meaning they keep people clicking on content and coming back to the platforms. There is evidence suggesting that a side effect of this design is that algorithms amplify information people are strongly biased (偏向的) to learn from. We call this information "PRIME", for prestigious, in-group, moral and emotional information.

In our evolutionary past, biases to learn from PRIME information were very advantageous: Learning from prestigious individuals is efficient because these people are successful and their behavior can be copied. Paying attention to people who violate moral norms is important because punishing them helps the community maintain cooperation. But what happens when PRIME information becomes amplified by algorithms and some people exploit (利用) algorithm amplification to promote themselves? Prestige becomes a poor signal of success because people can fake prestige on social media. News become filled with negative and moral information so that there is conflict rather than cooperation.

The interaction of human psychology and algorithm amplification leads to disfunction because social learning supports cooperation and problem-solving, but social media algorithms are designed to increase engagement. We call it functional mismatch. One of the key outcomes of functional mismatch is that people start to form incorrect perceptions of their social world, which often occurs in the field of politics. Recent research suggests that when algorithms selectively amplify more extreme political views, people begin to think that their political in-group and out-group are more sharply divided than they really are. Such "false polarization" might be an important source of greater political conflict.

So what's next? A key question is what can be done to make algorithms facilitate accurate human social learning rather than exploit social learning biases. Some research team is working on new algorithm designs that increase engagement while also punishing PRIME information. This may maintain user activity that social media platforms seek, but also make people's social perceptions more accurate.