BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The following are highlights of China's archaeological news from the past week:

-- Over 2,000-year-old drainage system

A drainage system dating back to the Qin (221-206 B.C.) and Han (206 BC-220 A.D.) dynasties was discovered at the Langyatai ruins in the city of Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province.

Excavation started on two sites at the Langyatai ruins in October this year. So far, an earth platform foundation, a drainage system, and a building base, which are on a grand scale and boast rigorous architectural crafts, have been discovered.

At one excavation site, three rows of pottery pipelines were found arranged in an orderly way. The pipes and their walls are thick, and the parts at the two ends of the pipes are similar to the ones of modern underground drainage pipe parts.

At the other site not far away, a stone-made floor drain was also discovered. The drain is made with six stones of different sizes and the stone in the middle had a square hole.

-- Cultural relics of 7 dynasties

Archaeologists have unearthed cultural traces of seven dynasties and more than 6,700 cultural relics from a site in north China's Hebei Province.

The site is located in the south square of Kaiyuan Temple, Zhengding County. Archaeologists have spent five years to make excavation on an area of more than 3,000 square meters.

Cultural traces from seven dynasties -- the Tang (618-907), Five Dynasties (907-960), Northern Song (960-1127), Jin (1115-1234), Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911), as well as over 6,700 relics have been discovered.

The ruins of the temple, a city wall defense system, civilian houses and streets and alleys were found during the excavation.

-- Stone carvings in Tang Dynasty emperor's mausoleum

Archaeologists discovered a large number of building components and stone carvings in an emperor's mausoleum of Tang Dynasty (618-907) in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The site, located in Caocun Township, Fuping County, is the mausoleum of the 10th emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

A large number of building materials, including tiles, ornaments on roof ridge, bricks, as well as pottery and porcelain fragments, were unearthed.

One stone pillar, two stone horses with wings, three stone horses and three horse guards were found during the excavation. And one winged horse is exquisitely carved and well preserved, which is a rare stone carving, according to the institute.

-- 57 ancient tombs

Nearly 500 relics have been found in 57 ancient tombs in south China's Guangdong Province.

The tombs, dating back to periods between the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.- 220 A.D.) and the Qing Dynasty (1644 A.D.-1911 A.D.), were unearthed in construction sites in the provincial capital Guangzhou.

There are 11 tombs from the Han Dynasty, and 13 tombs from the Jin and Southern dynasties (265 A.D.- 589 A.D.), both relatively large in number and scale.

The unearthed items include pottery objects, bronze ware, ironware and beadwork. Enditem

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