Vanished Silk Road city studied in China

Chinese archaeologists say they've found evidence of agricultural activity in an ancient vanished city that was a pivotal stop along the famous Silk Road. 

The Loulan ancient city, located in the west of Lake Lop Nur in Xinjinag Uygur Autonomous Region, is world-renowned for mysteriously vanishing in sand [Credit: Cultural China]

Scientists from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics said remote sensing procedures, field investigations and sample testing in the area showed there were once large tracts of farmland in Loulan, an important trading city that mysteriously disappeared in the third century A.D., China's official news agency Xinhua reported Sunday. 

Loulan was the capital of the 36 kingdoms in the western region of the Han Dynasty as well as an important thoroughfare on the ancient Silk Road, flourished from the 2nd century B.C. to the 4th century [Credit: Cultural China]

Farmland featuring regular and straight plots stretching for 200 to 1,000 yards, as well as irrigation ditches running throughout, have been found, Qin Xiaoguang, a member of the research team, said. 

Ruins of a building at Loulan [Credit: Cultural China]

Grain particles in the area's ground surface are very likely the remains of crop plants, Qin said. 

Remnants of wooden house at Loulan [Credit: Cultural China]

Evidence of an ancient canal measuring 10 to 20 yards wide and 5 feet deep suggest the city, which is thought to have perished in drought, was once rich in water resources, the researchers said. 

Source: UPI [October 04, 2011]