Ancient wells in Quang Tri attract visitors

Visiting the central province of Quang Tri, beside the huge number of revolutionary war sites, tourists can view a system of ancient wells from the New Stone Age, which related to the wet-rice cultivation of Vietnam.
Professor Bui Huy Dap, researching a project on rice cultivation in Vietnam, said the well system consists of 14 wells dating back about 4,000 years in Gio Linh, in Vinh Linh district of Quang Tri.
The sandstone-lined wells are linked by a canal. Water flows from the high wells to the lower ones, maintaining an even temperature in summer and winter.
These wells are also connected to vegetable fields by canals which are also lined with sandstone.
Professor Dap said that new technology in the New Stone Age helped the development of rice cultivation and achievements in irrigation of the Vietnamese people.
The ancient well system, an important historical relic among dozens of more recent sites in Gio Linh, including Truong Son cemetery and Doc Mieu firebase in the wartime Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), is near Ho Chi Minh Highway.
The DMZ is located at the 17th parallel, dividing the Hien Luong bridge spanning the Ben Hai river. The zone was set up under the Geneva Accords on Indochina in 1954 and was a military demarcation line between the north and the south of Vietnam in 20 years of the resistance war against the US imperialists, until 1975.