Shanghai, 2 Mar (Xinhua) -- The State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Shanghai Municipal Government jointly announced on 2 March that the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship archaeology and cultural relics protection project, the largest overall salvage and protection project for ancient shipwrecks on the mainland, was officially launched.
The "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship is expected to be salvaged and surfaced within this year, but the archaeological work around this shipwreck will continue for many years. Experts pointed out that at present, the ancient ship of "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" is wrapped in thick sediment under the water, and the clues obtained by the early exploration are very limited. After more than 6 years of underwater archaeological exploration, it was preliminarily confirmed that its date is during the Qing Tongzhi period (1862-1875 AD). For this ancient ship, which is almost the same age as the port of Shanghai, there are at least eight major suspense to be solved.
On March 2, the launching ceremony of the salvage of the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship was held at the Waigaoqiao Wharf in Shanghai. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ren Long
Suspense one: where did it come from and where are you going?
In 2019, overcoming many difficulties, the underwater archaeology team found its broken mast around the ancient ship of the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2", which is more than 9 meters long and extremely hard. Divers worked hard to cut a small sample from the mast, and after analysis, it was found that it was a high-quality Borneo double wood from Southeast Asia.
Zhai Yang, deputy director of the Shanghai Cultural Relics Conservation and Research Center, believes that this means that the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship may be built in Southeast Asia, or it may be built in China by global procurement materials. So the question is, where did this Qing Dynasty merchant ship come from and where was it going?
Suspense two: the cause of the overturning, is it overloading or distress?
Underwater archaeologists found that the underwater posture of the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship was tilted to the left underwater, and the stern of the ship sank slightly.
What is valuable is that the hull of the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship is still intact. So what was the "last straw" that crushed it? Bad weather, or overloaded cargo?
This is the composite map of the multi-beam sonar scan measurement of the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship in 2021. Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage)
Suspense Three: Can the "disappearing" sand ship "return"?
Through the early exploration of underwater archaeology, archaeologists believe that the ancient ship "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" is likely to be a sand ship.
Sand boat is a kind of flat bottom shallow boat, suitable for Yangtze River shipping. In 1990, Shanghai designed the city standard in the image of a sand boat. It can be seen that sand boats are of great significance to Shanghai, which "thrives on water".
Sand boats, which are now lesser known, were the main force of the busy shipping trade on the Huangpu River during the opening of the port in Shanghai. At its peak, thousands of sand boats shuttled across the Huangpu River, but no physical sand boats have survived. It is expected that the salvage will allow the "disappearing" sand boats to "return".
Suspense 4: Who is the last name?
In 2015, it had an archaeological designation: "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2", and over the years, although salvage and archaeologists have carried out a lot of exploration, but to this day, its name has not been found.
For shipwreck archaeology, finding the name of the ship is crucial. Archaeologists are very much looking forward to the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" out of the water, can find information directly related to its "name" from the hull of the ship, and solve the mystery of its origin.
Suspense Five: How many cultural relics are contained? What is the value?
In 2016, underwater salvage workers carried out a small-scale sand pumping operation on the ancient ship "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" wrapped in thick silt and sand, but found nothing. Just when underwater archaeology was in trouble, divers suddenly touched a fine piece of porcelain. With this as a breakthrough, the underwater archaeology team completed a comprehensive exploration and finally found that there were 31 cargo compartments on the ship, almost all of which were fully loaded.
Up to now, archaeologists have extracted 439 pieces of porcelain from inside and outside the ancient ship of the "Yangtze River Mouth No. 2". In addition, there are purple sand utensils, ink book "Shitai" wooden barrels and other items. According to statistics, the 4 cabins that have been opened, the load of porcelain in each cabin is estimated to be about 8,000 pieces, which makes it clear that the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship should be loaded with a huge number of cultural relics, which has extremely important historical, scientific and artistic value.
"Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship part of the water cultural relics (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage)
Suspense Six: Around a Qing Dynasty shipwreck, why vietnamese and Yuan Dynasty porcelain was also found?
Around the ancient ship "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2", archaeologists have also found scattered Vietnamese porcelain, and even some well-preserved Yuan Dynasty porcelain.
Was Vietnamese porcelain an item used by the crew or a cargo on board? Around a Qing Dynasty shipwreck, why is there Yuan Dynasty porcelain? Is it a collection of passengers on board or is it from another source?
Suspense Seven: Whose life is condensed in the life capsule?
The cultural relics value of the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" is not limited to the goods loaded on the ship, and the cultural relics value of the shipwreck itself is difficult to estimate. According to expert interpretation, the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship is well preserved and rich in ship load, which is of great value to the research of shipbuilding history, science and technology history, economic history, marine exchanges, ceramic manufacturing and other fields in China and even the world.
At the same time, from the perspective of underwater archaeological experience, the life capsule of the shipwreck condenses the entire era background at that time, so who will the information of the life capsule of the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" display?
"Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship out of the water cultural relics (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage)
Suspense 8: Will there still be "Yangtze River Estuary No. 3" and "Yangtze River Estuary No. 4"?
Shanghai is one of the important ports of the "Maritime Silk Road", and in modern times, it has rapidly risen to become an international metropolis and a major port in the world. The mouth of the Yangtze River, where Shanghai is located, is at the mouth of the Golden Waterway of the Yangtze River and the center of the mainland's north-south coastline. On this busy route and in the complex waters, there are many underwater treasures buried.
In 2010, under the overall deployment of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Shanghai launched a census of underwater cultural heritage and found nearly 150 clues to underwater cultural relics in the waters of the Yangtze River estuary. The person in charge of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics said that after the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship was salvaged out of the water, the Shanghai underwater archaeology team will continue to search for more valuable underwater cultural relics.
Edited by Linzhi Sun