Chinanews, Beijing, Dec. 18 – A recent accidental discovery made by builders of the No. 312 national highway from Hami to Turpan in Xinjiang revealed the traces of a wheat road, which might have existed even earlier than the world renowned Silk Road. With the discovery, archeologists presumed that wheat might first be grown in the Xinjiang Uygur Autunomous Region, the Guangming Daily reported.The wheat was discovered at one of an ancient tomb group located in a place called Jinkou. When construction workers reported their discovery to local cultural relic bureau, archeologists started their excavation work near the tombs. During the excavation, archeologists accidentally found some wheat remains. The wheat, golden in color, was said to be the most fresh wheat that had been ever found in Xinjiang. It was also the best-preserved wheat that had been ever unearthed in China so far.The tomb group was built between the Warring States period (475 BC – 221 BC) and Qin Dynasty (221 BC – 206 BC), or some 2,400 years ago. With the discovery, the developmental history of Xinjiang, from ancient civilization to modern times, has thus become complete. The wheat ears were well linked with the straw and they weighed 1-2 kilograms.Archeologists said the wheat looked so fresh as if “they were just harvested.”The wheat showed that they were in the early stage of development, not like the wheat grown today. The wheat was also rather smaller in size than today's wheat and they also weighed lighter. The wheat straws were placed on some wooden racks. There were no weeds mixed with the wheat straw, which demonstrated that agriculture there had developed in a relatively advanced stage, said Jiang Hong'en, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.Archeologists also found some food made by wheat inside the tombs and they presumed that the potteries scattered there were used for cooking or holding the food. Archeologists had not found anything that could reveal the food-making process. However, one thing, they felt sure, is that wheat growing had become quite popular in Gaochang, Turpan at that time and local agricultural production had reached a relatively advanced level. The discovery also showed that 2,400 years ago, social classes had appeared in Gaochang. The wheat discovery has produced evidence for scientists who once presumed that in China, wheat was first grown in Xinjiang.