????The fourth excavation of cultural relics at east China's Chaohu Lake areas found that a ancient community was present in the areas some 5,300 years ago, experts said.

????The site was named as the Lingjiatan Relics. Archaeologists found that there had been large buildings at the excavation site, which gave reference to the period of existence of local villagers.

????A jade-like stone was discovered at the site, which if experts confirmed to be jade, would bring China's jade history back some 5000 years.

????The experts unearthed an ancient well made of lumps of kilned red clay. The well is the earliest of its kind to be discovered to date, and reveals that Chinese had known that well water was cleaner than river water.

????Experts said the findings showed the relics belonged to an important age, when Chinese civilization evolved at its genesis period.

????Lingjiatan Relics are located in Lingjiatan Village of Tongzha Town in Hanshan County, Chaohu City of east China's Anhui Province. It covers an area of about 1 million square meters and was recorded alongside the "top ten archaeological findings in 1998" in the country.

(Xinhua 12/02/2000)