Archaeologists in the eastern province of Zhejiang have unearthed a section of ancient canal dating back more than 4,000 years in Huzhou city of east China's Zhejiang Province.

The 15 meters wide and 2 meters deep canal with unknown length was discovered by archaeologists during a recent excavation at the Pishan Ruins, a historic site with a history of 5,300 years.

Pishan Ruins is about 2.5 kilometers to the north of Huzhou. It was unearthed in 1957 and archaeologists have found a host of pottery wares and tortoise shells and a piece of bronze dagger there.

The canal is adjacent to the famous Taihu Lake in the southern part of neighboring Jiangsu province. The course of the local Sanliqiao river, which sees busy transportation by ships, intersects with the canal and is similar to the canal in terms of width and depth.

Fang Mingxiang, who headed the recent excavations at the Pishan Ruins, said they also found traces of artificial cuttings on the brim of the canal. Based on this discovery, Fang and his colleagues said the canal could be a man-built waterway.

Apart from the canal, archaeologists also discovered large quantities of ancient tombs, from which 45 pieces of stoneware, 19pieces of jade ware and 139 pottery pieces were unearthed.

A special finding at the site is a piece of tortoise shell which carries no inscriptions but with traces of burns.

"The tortoise shell was possibly used as a utensil to practice divination by ancient people," said Fang.

The findings at the canal site prove that human beings had lived in the areas several thousand years ago, Fang acknowledged.

He said ancient people loved to dwell in areas close to water sources, so there was the possibility to dig a waterway or a lake if there was no natural water sources.