Ruins of a large granary, along with ancient jars and coins, have been discovered in China's northern Hebei Province, officials said today, a key find in the study of construction of ancient warehouses in the country.
Covering an area of some 52,000 square meters in Linxi County, the granary is believed to have been constructed during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Ruins of 19 grain bins were found in the granary.
Archeologists said the bins were cylindrical with a diameter of six to ten meters and were made of cedarwood and earth.
Yang Zunyi, chief editor of the local chronicles of Linxi, said the county is near the Sui-Tang grand canal linking Beijing and Hangzhou, and the area was a major grain warehouse during the Tang Dynasty.
The discovery is important for the study of ancient waterway grain transportation and the construction of ancient warehouses, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted researchers as saying.
Also Chinese workers have uncovered ancient building ruins dating back to the Jin (960-1276) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties in Hebei Province.
After four months of excavation at the Haifeng Town ruins in Huanghua City, the ruins of an ancient hearth, fire pits and wall footings have been uncovered among bricks, tiles and broken porcelain.
Staff working at the site have also unearthed a 6-meter-wide main road, flanked on both sides by the ruins of buildings.
Judging from preliminary assessment of the unearthed ruins and items, they are presumed to have been used during the Jin and Yuan dynasties, said Lei Jianhong, director of the research office for underwater archaeology at the Hebei Cultural Relics Institute, the report said.
The excavation area, which is 30 meters long and 10 meters wide, is only a small part of the building cluster of the Haifeng Town ruins.
The rich findings indicate that there was intense human activity at the site and the ancient town is likely to have had a flourishing economy and trade, said Lei, who led the dig starting in July.
Standing at the mouth of a river, the town is thought to have been a port for the trade of porcelain and salt.
Scholars said ancient Haifeng Town is likely to be the northern tip of the Maritime Silk Road, from which Chinese porcelain was shipped across East Asia and beyond.
But this cannot be verified until further archaeological findings are made.
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