Saturday, March 18, 2006

Ruins of 4,500-year-old cities discovered in Shaanxi

In a region known for its 2,000 year-old archeological treasures, Chinese archaeologists have now discovered the ruins of 29 hamlets and towns that date back more than 4,500 years ago.

Located in the northern part of Shaanxi, the ancient communities were built on hills and cover an area of between 100,000 sqm to 400,000 sq m.

The ruins show that people had mastered building techniques and had constructed houses and stone walls around their community, said Wang Weilin, a research fellow with Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute.