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The ancient Maritime Silk Road was a major maritime trade channel for the ancients to use the sea and use ships as the carrier to stretch for thousands of kilometers and connect dozens of countries. Long voyages at sea are often accompanied by reefs and winds and waves, and not every ship can successfully reach the other shore. Shipwrecks sleeping in the depths of the sea are not only precious underwater cultural heritage, but also a "time capsule" for exploring the history of ancient civilization exchanges.
Since the 1970s and 1980s, with the gradual development of underwater archaeological research in China, under some ancient routes, ancient shipwrecks have been seen again. China's ancient shipwreck families are more famous for the "Song Dynasty Sea Ship in Houzhu Port, Quanzhou Bay", "Nanhai No. 1", "Huaguang Reef No. 1", "Nan'ao No. 1", "Bowl Reef No. 1" and so on. Among them, the Song Dynasty sea vessel in Houzhu Port in Quanzhou Bay is the only ancient ocean-going sea vessel unearthed in China to return from overseas, and the others were all wrecked and sunk on the way out from China. The Song Dynasty sea vessels in Houzhu Port in Quanzhou Bay are merchant ships returning after ocean trade, with a complete sailing trajectory, a large number of physical objects and complete ship types, so they have high research value.
Panoramic view of ancient ships of the Song Dynasty in quanzhou bay ancient ship exhibition hall (Photo by Chen Yingjie)
The Song Dynasty sea vessel excavation in Houzhu Port, Quanzhou Bay, was excavated in August 1974 and was listed as one of the top ten major archaeological discoveries in China that year. In August 1973, Professor Zhuang Weiji of the Department of History of Xiamen University, who had been conducting archaeological research in Quanzhou Port for a long time in his hometown of Quanzhou, and more than a dozen archaeologists from the Fujian Provincial Museum, the Quanzhou Municipal Cultural Administration Commission, the Quanzhou Overseas Transportation History Museum, and other units, went to Houzhu Port to inspect overseas transportation historical sites, and heard that fishermen had picked up damp wood on the beach and lit it on fire without burning. During the on-site investigation, Zhuang Weijie found many exposed wooden planks next to a ditch, combined with the ancient dock made of nearby stone strips, and the Song Dynasty ceramics excavated around the area, he judged that there was an ancient wooden ship of considerable scale here. After repeated reviews and local test excavations, Zhuang Weijie's judgment was further confirmed. With the approval of the Provincial Bureau of Culture and the Cultural Relics Bureau of the State Council, on the basis of making relevant preparations in the early stage, on June 9, 1974, China's first large-scale bay archaeological excavation project was launched, and the excavation work lasted until August of that year, lasting two and a half months.
In 1974, the excavation site of the ancient ship. (Courtesy of Quanzhou Haijiaoguan)
The excavated wreck was 24.2 meters long, 9.15 meters wide, 13 watertight compartments, with a load capacity of more than 200 tons, except for the damage to the superstructure of the hull, the remaining part of the bow structure, the middle bottom plate of the hull, the side plate and the watertight bulkhead, mast, keel and so on are well preserved. Experts combined with the structural characteristics of the ship type, the relics excavated from the cabin and the sedimentary environment, etc., inferred that this was an ocean-going merchant ship at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Construction technique of watertight compartment (Photo by Chen Qituo)
Quanzhou Overseas Transportation History Museum deputy director Lin Han introduced that there is a Song generation, China's shipbuilding technology, navigation technology, have the world's advanced level, since the Tang, Quanzhou is one of the important ports of overseas transportation in ancient China, the Song and Yuan dynasties overseas trade is unprecedented prosperity, with the name of "Thorn Tong Port" reputation at home and abroad, with nearly a hundred countries and regions have trade exchanges, the Yuan Dynasty was known as "the largest port in the East" in the Yuan Dynasty. Quanzhou's long and prosperous overseas trade has created a developed shipbuilding industry, Quanzhou has become an important shipbuilding base in ancient China's southern region, and the ships built are known for their strong structure, strong wind resistance and good seaworthiness. Experts judged from the aspects of ancient ship materials, shipbuilding technology and "Baoshou Hole" that it was a "lucky ship" built in Quanzhou. The design of the keel and shell plate of the ancient ship, its craftsmanship, and the setting of the watertight compartment show the advanced nature of its design and construction technology. In particular, the watertight compartment greatly enhances the anti-sinking of sea ships and the robustness of the hull, and facilitates the loading and unloading of goods, this advanced design can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty, nearly a thousand years earlier than Europe.
Restoration model of Song Dynasty sea vessels in Houzhu Port, Quanzhou Bay (Photo by Chen Qituo)
The largest number of excavations from song dynasty ships in Houzhu Port, Quanzhou Bay, is a spice drug, with more than 4700 pounds, including descending incense, sandalwood, frankincense, ambergris, agarwood, betel nut, pepper... These important imported goods in China during the Song and Yuan dynasties were popular goods that were widely used in life and medicine at that time. In addition, there are 13 types of excavated objects, such as wooden goods plates (signs), copper and iron coins, ceramics, and chess pieces, all of which are national first-class cultural relics. Experts judged from the excavations that it was a shipwrecked ship returning to Quanzhou Port from Southeast Asia full of spices.
Spices on ancient ships in the Song Dynasty (Photo by Chen Qituo)
The excavation of Song Dynasty sea vessels in Houzhu Port, Quanzhou Bay, is a historical witness to China's Song Dynasty, especially Quanzhou's overseas transportation and trade, and provides important physical materials for the study of China's overseas transportation and trade, The history of Sino-foreign economic and cultural exchanges, the history of friendly exchanges between Chinese and foreign people, and the history of China's shipbuilding.
In March 1975, the People's Daily published a report under the title of "Quanzhou Bay Excavated a Song Dynasty Wooden Sea Ship", and as soon as the news came out, it shocked people at home and abroad, and the news media of many countries reprinted it one after another, and called it "the world's archaeological treasures". In 1984, Dr. Joseph Needham, author of the "History of Natural Science and Technology in China" series and a well-known British expert in the history of science, visited and praised "this is one of the most important discoveries in the history of natural science in China".
Wooden cargo plate (sign) on an ancient ship (Courtesy photo) of Quanzhou Haijiaoguan Museum)
As an important physical proof of the successful application for the heritage of "Quanzhou: World Marine Trade Center of Song and Yuan China", this ancient ship that has been sleeping on the seabed for 700 years and the excavated objects it carries are now lying quietly in the Quanzhou Bay Ancient Ship Exhibition Hall in the Kaiyuan Temple, with the glory and vicissitudes of the past, following the long and tortuous Maritime Silk Road, through thousands of years of time, reproducing to people the commercial history and life picture of the Song ship voyage 700 years ago, telling the glorious overseas trade and exchange history of Song and Yuan China.
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"In Search of The Best of China in Quanzhou World Heritage"
Source: Quanzhou Evening News Quanzhou Tong client
Reporter: Huang Baoyang
Editor: Chen Yajuan
Review: Xiao Guojing
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