Chinese archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a major city dating back over 4,000 years in the middle reaches of the Huaihe River.

Located within the Yuhui Village ruins, in the city of Bengbu, in east China's Anhui province, the ruined city is between 4,100 and 4,400 years old, and belongs to the early and middle stages of the Longshan Culture period.

It is estimated to cover an area of at least 180,000 square meters, calculated by the length of city wall remains, according to Zhang Dong, leader of the archaeological team from the Institute of Archaeology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Clues of the city walls were first discovered in 2017, but the west wall and the south wall have been eroded by the Huaihe River," said Zhang. "The existing parts of the north wall and south wall extend for 300 meters and 600 meters, respectively."

"The future work will focus on the city walls and gates. The team will continue to look for the east gate, probe into the underground preservation conditions of the city site, and continue to explore some peripheral sites," Zhang added.

The research also found that the city site contained prolific traces of human activity. Remains scattered over an area of 2 million square meters around the city site reflect the population growth and concentration at that time, which is also a record of the prehistoric urbanization in the Huaihe River Basin.

The archaeologists said that the discovery is of great academic value and is an important case study for exploring the progress of civilization in the Huaihe River basin. 

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