On September 17, 2010, the Heze International Trade Center Engineering Construction Project was in full swing. At 10:00 a.m., project leader Zhang Wenchang arrived at the construction site, when he found several construction workers huddled next to a water pipe, laughing and washing something.
So Zhang Wenchang went up to see what was going on and found that the construction workers were washing two clay pots. The clay pot was full of sand and full of a sense of historical sedimentation, and Zhang Wenchang quickly asked where the clay pot came from?
Although the eyes of the workers were a little evasive, under Zhang Wenchang's repeated questioning, they still confided the truth: it turned out that just now they were working as usual, and suddenly found a clay pot with a corner exposed in the dirt, and felt that they had dug out a treasure, so they dug it out.
▲ Excavated cultural relics
After hearing the workers' words, Zhang Wenchang immediately took out his mobile phone and called the police, he felt that it was most likely a cultural relic. It is precisely because of Zhang Wenchang's alarm that the most important archaeological excavation in Shandong Province was unveiled, and the veil of "Heze Ancient Shipwreck" was finally revealed to the world.
After receiving Zhang Wenchang's alarm, the cultural relics department of Heze City immediately organized personnel to carry out rescue excavations at the scene, and the construction site was also blocked by the police. In the process of excavations that followed, there was a situation that confused everyone.
The heritage staff has excavated a lot of porcelain, pottery, and even copper coins and gold, but not a single tomb brick has been found. In addition, the staff did find a large number of planks, although these planks were very badly decayed, but enough to see that the length of the planks was very long. The short one is more than two meters, and the long one can be three or four meters.
So the archaeologists had a bold idea, they are excavating not an ancient tomb, but an ancient shipwreck! When the staff came up with this idea, everyone at the scene was astonished.
▲Excavation site
This is the center of Heze, located in the southwest of Shandong Province, at the junction of Sulu, Yuwan and Anhui provinces, and is very far from the sea. The most important thing is that there are no big rivers in Heze, how can this ancient shipwreck appear here?
In order to confirm this idea, the cultural relics department of Heze City specially invited two teachers from Juancheng County Shipyard. These two teachers are both seventy or eighty years old, and their families have been building ships for generations, and they know far more about ships than archaeologists.
When the two teachers came to the scene, they quickly gave a positive answer, which was an ancient shipwreck. Then the two teachers pointed to the rotten wood and said exactly every cabin on the ship and its usefulness.
Seeing that the two teachers were so experienced, the staff's eyes lit up and they asked: "What age is this boat?" Hearing this question, the two teachers shook their heads helplessly.
The customs of shipbuilding in China for thousands of years are almost the same, and it is obviously impossible to judge the age of ancient shipwrecks through a pile of rotten wood. But the length of this shipwreck is more than 20 meters, the width is close to 5 meters, and the height is close to 2 meters.
▲ Restored ancient shipwreck
Such a large ship will not be too old. The Song, Yuan, Ming and other dynasties could build such large ships, but no one knew which dynasty it was.
Seeing this, I believe that many friends will have some doubts. Archaeologists have found a large number of "ancient artifacts" inside the ship, even copper coins and gold objects. Through these things, can't we judge the age of the shipwreck?
Let's first look at what is inside the sinking ship, in and around the shipwreck unearthed a total of more than 110 artifacts, including pottery, porcelain, lacquerware, jade, agate, gold and iron, etc., in addition to a large number of copper coins. The total value of these cultural relics has reached billions!
Among them, the most valuable are the Yuan Dynasty blue and white dragon pattern plum bottle, the Song Dynasty Jun kiln shadow green axis cup and other porcelain. These porcelains come from five or six porcelain systems such as Jingdezhen, Longquan kiln, Jun kiln, Cizhou kiln, and Ge kiln.
▲ Unearthed porcelain
Although there are many porcelains and are very precious, there are Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, and it is difficult to judge the time of shipwrecks by this. Speaking of copper coins, there are not only copper coins from the Song Dynasty, but also copper coins from the Tang Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, and it is still impossible to judge the time of shipwreck from the copper coins.
Why are there copper coins from various dynasties and generations in the shipwreck? Could it be that the owner of the shipwreck was a coin collector? The answer is no. In ancient China, almost all the copper coins of the dynasties and dynasties could be mixed, what does it mean?
It is not difficult to understand that a Song Dynasty commoner holding a Tang Dynasty copper coin can also shop. Whether it is copper coins or silver, they are ancient currencies, which are themselves a valuable metal and can naturally be mixed.
The year is not visible on the copper coins, as are other excavated collections. But the "youngest collection" in the shipwreck comes from the Yuan Dynasty, so the cultural relics department has always believed that this ancient shipwreck should be a Yuan Dynasty ship.
▲Excavated cultural relics
This solves the problem of shipwreck time, but there are still two problems that make everyone wonder.
The first question is, why did this ship sink here? After all, the land and water environment in the Song and Yuan dynasties was similar to today's, and the Heze area during the Yuan Dynasty naturally could not be a vast ocean.
To explain this, archaeologists specifically investigated the relevant historical records. Not to mention, after some investigation, archaeologists really made a major discovery.
From prehistoric civilization to the Ming and Qing dynasties, whether it is shipping or river transportation, Heze is very developed. There is a river in Heze called the Zhao Wang River, which is a hand-dug Cao Canal.
After several diversions, the course of the Zhao Wang River gradually deviated, and the original channel became an alluvial plain, and the location of the shipwreck belonged to the original river channel.
▲Zhao Wang River
Problem 1 is solved, and there is another problem next. With such a precious collection inside the shipwreck, why did the owner abandon the ship without salvaging it?
In order to solve this puzzle, Heze City invited experts from a college and university to conduct a field trip. Experts concluded that the boat ran aground in a river-centered Shazhou while traveling on the Guangji River, and the speed of the boat may have been fast, which led to the hull rollover.
Experts give this statement because there is obvious damage to the left side of the wreck. As for the rollover, it was speculated, but this speculation was quickly overturned.
If it is because of the impact on the beach that causes the stranding, even if there is a rollover, the wreck speed is relatively slow, and the owner of the ship has time to transfer the contents of the ship. It is impossible to take nothing with it, and all the personnel will be evacuated in a hurry.
Then Heze City invited the two shipyard teachers, who found that the stern and middle of the shipwreck had been collided after a check, which led to the cracking of the hull, and the people on the ship fled for their lives, so it was too late to take away the valuables on the ship.
This statement feels more reliable, but some people have doubts about it. For example, even if the hull is cracked, there is time to take some of the items, how can you take nothing with you?
It is for this reason that a third theory arises: this ship is a private ship of the bureaucrats at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.
At that time, under the attack of the Ming Dynasty army, officials in Heze fled by boat to the north of the desert. On the canal, a large number of fleeing fleets appeared. Because there are too many officials fleeing, the river is congested and chaotic.
During the escape, the ship collided with other ships, causing the cabin to rush into the water. However, in order to escape, this official had no time to salvage the contents of the ship, so he could only urgently transfer to other ships to continue to escape. Of course, there are many places to be considered for this statement.
If you have a chance, go to Heze for yourself! Not only to see Cao County, which has exploded throughout the universe, but also to see this ancient shipwreck, maybe you can find a different place!