Secret underground tunnels discovered in ruins of 4,300-year-old Chinese city

The city of Houchengzui in northern China is an archaeological site dating back more than 4,000 years.

Back then, it was a heavily armoured place with three concentric defensive walls, turrets, guarded gates and trenches.

However, historians might have found an easier way in: a network of secret tunnels.

The city is between 4,300 and 4,500 years old, dating it to some time in the Longshan period, which saw the emergence of late Neolithic societies.

Houchengzui stretches across about 15 million sq ft and was discovered in 2005. Archaeologists have been excavating the site since 2019.

Now, six intersecting tunnels that functioned as a hidden transport network have been found in the most recent round of excavations.

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the China Archaeology Network

One photo shows a partial map of the passageways. Other photos show a tunnel entrance and a view inside the well-preserved arched tunnels.

The tunnels are between 5ft and 20ft beneath ground level, and range from 3ft to 6ft tall. Several of them even passed under the city's ramparts and opened up to the outside world.

According to Sun Jinsong, director of the Cultural Relics and Archaeology Academy of Inner Mongolia, the moats and defensive perimeter walls (known as barbicans) were the focus of the most recent research.

Not a bad escape route if a neighbouring kingdom has decided to attack...

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