Archaeologists found a six-meter-wide slot, which was probably used to enhance the ramparts at that time.

"The slot shows the ground was not so smooth for building and builders needed other means to make the construction firm," said Shi Yongshi, an expert with the cultural relics department of Hebei.

Experts also unearthed a stone axe, a buckhorn tool and many pottery fragments.

Judging from the excavated objects, experts presumed the city was built by the small state of Zhongshan, even though they lacked proof to support that conjecture.

Tang county is believed to be the hometown of Emperor Yao, a sagacious ancient ruler according to Chinese legend.

Archaeologists believed the relics would be helpful to the study of urban construction and building design at that time and might also provide clues to the collapse of Zhongshan state.

(eastday.com January 7, 2003)