SHENYANG, CHINA—Xinhua reports that a group of Liao Dynasty (A.D. 907–1125) tombs recently discovered in northeast China’s Liaoning Province were equipped with a 360-foot-long drainage system. Water would have flowed through a series of ditches created with flagstones laid over stone balls and covered with bricks. In addition, archaeologists have recovered ceramics and objects made of stone, metal, jade, glass, and amber in five of the brick tombs, which had been looted and damaged. Si Weiwei of the Liaoning Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeological Institute suggested the system may have also been intended to deter plunderers. For more, go to “Letter from China: Tomb Raider Chronicles.”
Drainage System Uncovered in Cluster of Tombs in China
News January 22, 2019
Recommended Articles
Letter from China July/August 2013
Tomb Raider Chronicles
Looting reaches across the centuries—and modern China’s economic strata
Top 10 Discoveries of 2025 January/February 2026
Oldest Mummified People
Southern China and Southeast Asia
Digs & Discoveries November/December 2025
Ancient Look Book
-
Features November/December 2018
Reimagining the Crusades
A detailed picture of more than two centuries of European Christian life in the Holy Land is emerging from new excavations at monasteries, towns, cemeteries, and some of the world’s most enduring castles
(Peter Horree/Alamy Stock Photo) -
Letter from California November/December 2018
Inside a Native Stronghold
A rugged volcanic landscape was once the site of a dramatic standoff between the Modoc tribe and the U.S. Army
(Julian Smith) -
Artifacts November/December 2018
Russian Canteen
(Courtesy Copyright David Kobialka/Antiquity) -
Digs & Discoveries November/December 2018
The American Canine Family Tree
(Photo by Del Baston/Courtesy of the Center for American Archeology)