Source: People's Daily
Members of the joint archaeological team expanded the inscriptions found at the site. Profile picture
Overlook the ruins of Port Sellin on the shores of the Red Sea from the air. Profile picture
Since ancient times, the Red Sea has been the main road of maritime transportation and the link between the civilizations of the East and the West. On the shores of the Red Sea, in the southwest corner of the Arabian Peninsula, there was once a port, the Port of Sellin in Saudi Arabia. Historically, it was a bustling trading port along the Maritime Silk Road and one of the "three major ports" of the Red Sea.
In order to unveil the historical veil of Port Sellin, in 2016, China and Saudi Arabia signed the "China-Saudi Port Sellin Archaeological Cooperation Agreement", planning to implement a five-year joint archaeological excavation. Since March 2018, more than 10 archaeologists from the Underwater Cultural Heritage Protection Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China and the Saudi National Archaeological Center have formed a Sino-Saudi Joint Archaeological Team to carry out archaeological investigations and excavations at the Port Sellin site twice.
Archaeology requires constant excavation of evidence, reasoning through evidence, and ultimately drawing conclusions. It sounds like a lot of fun, but the actual work is often incredibly difficult. The port of Sellin archaeology not only has to complete field excavations on land, but also dive underwater to discover lost civilizations. "This puts forward higher requirements for the team members, both to be able to archaeology and to be able to dive." Therefore, in addition to the preliminary academic preparations, all the Chinese team members also conducted a 4-month underwater archaeology training before going to Saudi Arabia to be prepared as much as possible. Jiang Bo, the Chinese leader of the joint archaeological team and a professor at the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Shandong University, told reporters.
Even if full preparations were made, the harsh archaeological environment still gave the Chinese team members a "dismount". When we first arrived, the east coast of the Red Sea in April had entered the sweltering summer. Under the scorching sun, the surface temperature of the desert can reach 50 degrees Celsius. At the excavation site of the completely open-air and slightly higher ground, the members of the archaeological team were tanned, and many members of the team had heat stroke reactions. In order to avoid heat and exposure, the archaeologists had to get up at 5 o'clock every day and leave for the construction site.
In addition to the high temperature, sandstorms are also a major challenge for this archaeological activity. When the sandstorm hit, the yellow sand obscured the sky and the joint archaeological team could not work outdoors. As soon as the sandstorm passed, the archaeological team immediately carried out a dragnet survey, setting up 9 survey lines running from north to south on the surface of the site for carpet search; after discovering important sites, they used drones to conduct aerial photography and remote sensing mapping of the ruins from different heights in order to establish a three-dimensional model as soon as possible.
In the underwater archaeology link, the members of the archaeological teams of the two countries investigated, searched and sampled the underwater conditions in the waters around port Sellin through seabed surveys, searches and samples. The harbor is surrounded by two reefs, the water flow is gentle, the depth is moderate, and the muddy seabed is convenient for sea vessels to avoid the wind, anchor and sail. On the seabed of the bay, the team found silt deposits brought in by earlier rivers, and they were deeply piled up. These findings thus answered the reason for the location of port Sellin in the first place – the terrain was suitable, the rivers and seas met, and the fresh water was abundant. In the waters south of the site, the joint archaeological team also identified a harbor where ships could berth and found a channel for ancient ships to enter and leave the harbor.
As the archaeological process continues, the former glory of Port Sellin is gradually revived. The joint archaeological team found a large architectural site distributed in pieces and two large cemeteries arranged in an orderly manner, as well as the remains of a suspected seaside freight yard, vividly showing the historical landscape of the ancient bustling harbor. In the site, the archaeology team members also cleared out copper weights, lapis lazuli, beads, agate, ivory products, coins and other cultural relics, and found exquisite cultural relics such as Arabic stone tools, Persian glazed pottery, lotus petal pattern blue and white porcelain from the Song and Yuan dynasties of China, celadon of the Longquan kiln system, and blue and white porcelain of the Zhangzhou kiln system in the Ming and Qing dynasties. A historical picture showing the port of Sellin as an ancient international trade port unfolds slowly, providing valuable archaeological materials for the academic study of the Maritime Silk Road.
It is worth mentioning that the traditional Chinese inscription rubbing technology has played an important role in this archaeological work. The inscription rubbings made by the Chinese team members made the inscriptions blurred by the erosion of wind and sand clear and readable, which amazed the Sand team members. At the work site, Liang Guoqing, a member of the Chinese archaeological team, will always surround a number of Saudi archaeologists to learn from him Chinese rubbing production technology, and Walid is one of them. "Through this technology, we gain important clues to further understand the dating and trade context of the site. Under the teaching of Liang Guoqing, we have gradually mastered the rubbing production technology, hoping to apply it to more archaeological sites in Saudi Arabia. Walid said.
The Port Sellin area has not previously carried out systematic field archaeology work, and the joint archaeological results "exceeded the expectations of both sides". Dr. Zahani, head of the Saudi National Archaeological Research Center, highly recognized the joint archaeological work and hoped that the joint archaeological team would be able to continue its work at the site as soon as possible after the epidemic. "We work very smoothly, seeking common ground while reserving differences and complementing each other's strengths. The team members also developed a deep sense of brotherhood in the process of cooperation, and in their spare time, they will learn each other's languages and understand the culture of each other's countries. Jiang Bo sighed.
This archaeological discovery is corroborated by historical records, confirming that China has had close maritime exchanges with the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea region in history. Maddy Karni, head of the Saudi side of the China-Saudi Joint Archaeological Team, said, "We attach great importance to this archaeological cooperation project jointly carried out with China, and the joint archaeological results confirm the long history of cultural and economic and trade exchanges between China and Arab countries, and also provide rich materials for relevant countries to dig deeper and study their own history."
Although the follow-up archaeological work offline cannot be promoted for the time being due to the epidemic, the online business exchanges and discussions between the members of the archaeological teams of the two countries have never been interrupted. At the beginning of November last year, Yang Rui, a representative of the Chinese team, participated in the first online meeting of the Saudi Archaeological Discovery Forum hosted by the Saudi Ministry of Culture, and introduced the implementation of archaeological cooperation and major discoveries at the Port Sellin site. The members of the joint archaeological team hope that through archaeological work, the long history of mutual learning and mutual learning between the two major civilizations of China and Afghanistan will be reflected, and the memory of this civilization belonging to all mankind will be awakened. (Reporter Jing Yue)
Original title: In recent years, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has promoted extensive cooperation in the field of humanities among countries along the route, and Sino-foreign joint archaeology has blossomed and flourished. To date, 44 joint archaeological projects have involved 24 countries. The investigation and excavation of important sites of the ancient Silk Road will help us to deeply explore the context of the development of civilization, and witness the moving chapter of the encounter and mutual understanding of eastern and western civilizations, mutual learning and mutual learning.
Carry out joint archaeology of the Silk Road, deepen exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations (the avenue is not alone)
People's Daily (17th edition, January 14, 2022)