Discovered a new section of the road that had not grown grass for 2,200 years

The new stretch of road was revealed this month after a survey by the Du Lam Cultural Heritage Research and Preservation Institute. Located in Yulin city, Shaanxi province, the road provides new evidence of Qinzhidao – a 2,200-year-old highway that once stretched about 700-900 km in northern China and is considered one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in human history.

In addition, the survey also discovered a small relic of the Qin – Han period right next to the road, most likely a delivery station or maintenance facility. A small amount of ceramic tiles typical of the Qin – Han period are scattered on some parts of the road surface, clearly showing the age of the project.

According to historical documents, Tan Truc Dao was built under the orders of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, and completed in just 5 years. The road is about 40-60 m wide, enough space for 4 lanes.

Excavation results show that the road construction technique is very sophisticated with straight trenches, slopes reinforced with rammed earth and compacted roadbed. According to Amazing our countrybuilders use compacted terracotta to prevent weeds from growing.

At that time, the soil used for Tan Truc Dao was all terracotta mixed with salt. If you build with clay that is carefully baked many times, the grass seeds in the soil cannot germinate due to high temperatures. When adding salt and compacting, the solid soil becomes extremely hard and has no gaps, so there is no oxygen inside. Even if the seed falls on the road, it cannot take root. This causes many sections of Tan Truc Dao Street to still have no grass after 2,200 years.

Historical records describe workers “filling valleys and leveling mountains” to create a road that began in Xianyang (the Qin capital) and stretched north to Baotou, passing through 14 counties, playing a key role in Qin Shi Huang’s northern defense strategy. However, due to dynastic changes and scant historical documents, the exact route of the road was lost over time. In 1974, Chinese archaeologists excavated a section of the road, and the search for the remains continues today.

The newly discovered 13km stretch of road at Du Lam helps confirm ancient records and shed more light on ancient engineering, showing that China built one of the world’s first long-distance road transport networks. The new discovery may also help find the location of other road segments between Yulin and Ordos, two cities in Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia.

Theo China Cultural Heritage NewsTan Truc Dao is the second largest defense project in ancient Chinese history, only after the Great Wall, and can be considered “the ancestor of the world’s highways”