This morning, the largest overall salvage and protection project of ancient ships in the mainland, the Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 Ancient Ship Archaeology and Cultural Relics Protection Project, was officially launched in Shanghai, unveiling the mystery of the Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 ancient ship that has been sealed for nearly 8 years since its discovery.
Pictured: The scene of the launch Xinmin Evening News reporter Wang Kai photographed
Underwater Archaeology: Reaching World Class Level
Shanghai, since ancient times, has been the origin and one of the important ports of the Maritime Silk Road, and in this busy route and complex waters, there are countless underwater treasures and unsolved mysteries buried.
In 2015, when the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage organized a key underwater archaeological survey in the Chongming Hengsha waters at the mouth of the Yangtze River, a relatively well-preserved iron ancient ship was discovered through sonar scanning and other techniques, and the archaeological number was "Yangtze River Estuary No. 1". Subsequently, archaeologists expanded the scope of scanning and exploration, and found another large and well-preserved wooden ancient ship in the north of the ancient ship, with the archaeological number "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2".
Picture description: Schematic diagram of the no. 2 ancient ship at the mouth of the Yangtze River
After more than 6 years of underwater archaeological investigation and exploration, it was preliminarily proved that the ancient ship no. 2 at the mouth of the Yangtze River was a wooden sailing vessel, which was confirmed to be dated to the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty (1862-1875 AD), the water depth of the water was 8-10 meters, and the hull was buried in 5.5 meters deep silt, with a lateral left tilt of about 27 °. The length of the ancient ship is about 38.5 meters, the width of the ship is about 7.8 meters, and 31 cabins have been discovered. The upper part of the ancient ship has a complete structure such as the pointed bow, pile, main mast, left and right sides, and upper deck. The ancient ship type is suspected to be a flat-bottomed sand boat widely used in Shanghai during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
After a small range of cleaning, it was found that there were exquisite cultural relics such as Jingdezhen kiln porcelain that were neatly stacked in the cabin, and there were many types and large numbers of cultural relics that had been completely discharged or could be repaired. In addition, a large number of cultural relics such as purple sand ware, hookahs from Vietnam, wooden bucket fragments, and masts have been unearthed in and around the hull. From July to September 2021, large-scale whole vessels such as Yuan Dynasty porcelain and 60-centimeter-high bean-green glazed blue-and-white vases that had not been found in previous investigations were cleaned up. In particular, some of the ancient ships have a water porcelain bottom book "Tongzhi Year System", which provides an important basis for the dating of ancient ships.
Pictured: 2019 water part of the blue and white porcelain
The Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 ancient ship is one of the largest, most completely preserved, and estimated to have a huge number of cultural relics on board in China and even in the world, and is a precious cultural heritage with extremely important historical, scientific and artistic value.
The Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 ancient ship has filled an important gap for the discovery of large wooden ancient ships in this historical period of the mainland, provided important empirical evidence for the study of the "Maritime Silk Road" and the "Golden Waterway" of the Yangtze River, enriched the important connotation of the "Belt and Road", "Marine Power" and the construction of the Yangtze River culture, and added an important weight to the joint application for the "Maritime Silk Road". The Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 ancient ship is a physical witness to Shanghai's use as a trade and shipping center in East Asia and even the world in modern times. Ancient ships are well preserved and rich in cultural relics on board, which has very important scientific value for the study of shipbuilding history, science and technology history, maritime communication history, ceramic history, economic history and other disciplines in China and even the world. The underwater archaeological work of the Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 ancient ship is one of the important symbols of China's underwater archaeology entering the world-class level.
Illustration: Ancient ship BV5000 composite diagram
Conservation salvage: the world's first technology solution
In order to prevent the natural and man-made destruction of the Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 ancient ship, experts suggest that it is necessary to salvage the water as soon as possible and move it into a fixed place for archaeological excavation, cultural relics protection, research and display and utilization. After fully listening to the opinions of experts, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage decided to adopt the overall salvage method of the No. 2 ancient ship at the mouth of the Yangtze River to protect this precious underwater cultural heritage to the greatest extent.
The Shanghai Salvage Bureau of the Ministry of Transport, which was responsible for the salvage of the ancient ship, adopted the world's first technical solution - "Arc Beam Non-contact Cultural Relics Overall Migration Technology" to salvage the ancient ship. At that time, 22 giant "arc beams" will be driven by the top-entry transmitter frame, forming a huge arc-shaped caisson at the bottom of the Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 ancient ship, the caisson is 51 meters long, 19 meters wide and 9 meters high, which can wrap the Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 ancient ship and its attached thick sediment and seawater "without leaking", plus the weight of the salvage equipment itself, the total weight of the caisson is nearly 10,000 tons. This technology especially combines the processing technology of nuclear power arc beam, tunnel shield boring technology, immersed pipe tunnel docking technology, and the use of hydraulic synchronous lifting technology, integrated monitoring system and other current world's most advanced high-tech. At the same time, these technologies are also the first time to be applied to the field of cultural relics protection and archaeology, and truly realize the integration and development of cultural relics protection and scientific and technological innovation. Relying on China's high-end manufacturing capabilities, such high-tech solutions can maximize the protection of the originality and integrity of underwater cultural heritage and ensure the safety of cultural relics.
Illustration: Illustration of the site of the equal-scale sea trial
After the caisson came out of the water, in order to successfully escort the Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 ancient ship to the Huangpu Riverside storage site, the Shanghai Salvage Bureau also tailored a "central opening" engineering ship for the caisson, and the caisson could be tightly embedded in its open middle. Subsequently, the engineering ship will "embrace" the yangtze River estuary No. 2 ancient ship to the destination. According to the plan, the Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 ancient ship is expected to complete the salvage and relocation task by the end of 2022.
The overall salvage and migration project of the Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 ancient ship integrates the world's most advanced salvage technology, technical route and equipment manufacturing into one, forming a fifth-generation salvage process, which is unprecedented.
The preservation of the Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 ancient ship is extremely complete, and the number of cultural relics on board is large, which is enough to support the construction of an ancient ship museum with world influence. At present, the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have officially decided to choose the site of Yangpu Binjiang Shanghai Shipyard, making full use of the two old docks and preserved historical buildings to prepare for the construction of the Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 Ancient Ship Museum.
In the future, the old dock, which is a historical building, will also be "gorgeously transformed" into an archaeological base for shipwrecks and an ancient ship museum. Archaeologists will gradually unveil the many unsolved mysteries of this ancient ship of the Qing Dynasty here. At the same time, it will also be a living museum, which can simultaneously carry out archaeological excavations, cultural relics protection and display education, as well as archaeological and intangible cultural heritage living experiences, and scientific research on international underwater cultural heritage.
Li Qun, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism and Director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and Chen Tong, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, jointly launched the Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 Ancient Ship Archaeology and Cultural Relics Protection Project. (Xinmin Evening News reporter Xu Yisheng)