On March 2, 2022, the world's largest overall salvage and protection project for ancient shipwrecks so far, the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship archaeology and cultural relics protection project, was launched in Shanghai.
Ancient shipwrecks, Shanghai, salvage. This set of juxtaposed keywords undoubtedly shows that the project can be called the most authentic and pun on the "sea treasure": "sea" refers to the underwater, but also refers to Shanghai; "zhen" refers to the cargo, but also refers to the humanistic core of the ship.
Following the reappearance of the graceful Southern Song Dynasty ship "Nanhai I" 35 years ago, the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" is another milestone in China's underwater archaeology. This ship is the largest and most complete wooden shipwreck found by Chinese underwater archaeology so far, and the number of cultural relics on board is expected to be huge, the site is located under the water of Hengsha Shoal in the northeast of Hengsha Island in Chongming District, suspected to be a trading merchant ship during the Qing Tongzhi period (1862-1875), carrying exquisite cultural relics such as Jingdezhen kiln porcelain, and a large number of cultural relics such as purple sand ware and Hookah pots produced in Vietnam have also been unearthed in and around the hull.
The process of breaking the waves of the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" will adopt "the hardest core fifth-generation salvage process in history", marking the entry of China's underwater archaeology into the world-class level. In addition, according to the plan, the ancient ship is expected to complete the salvage and relocation task by the end of 2022. At present, the former site of Yangpu Binjiang Shanghai Shipyard has been selected, and the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" Ancient Ship Museum is ready to be built locally.
As a result, the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship archaeology and cultural relics protection project has become the world's first ancient ship underwater salvage, overall relocation, archaeological protection and museum planning and construction of the simultaneous implementation of the project, with a string of "China's best" and even "the world's most" shining title.
Of course, the most shining thing is the curiosity and adventure of seeking mystery and exploration, and the spark of wisdom and effort. Without the eyes full of curiosity, the aura of genius, and the spirit of stumbling to the end, there would be no ship to carry the civilization of the touch.
The ship is now
The Yangtze River estuary in Shanghai is at the mouth of the Golden Waterway of the Yangtze River and the central point of China's north-south coastline. Throughout the ages, in this busy route and complex waters, countless underwater treasures and unsolved mysteries have been hidden.
According to the overall deployment of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage has launched a census of underwater cultural heritage since 2011, and collected more than 150 clues to underwater cultural relics in the waters of the Yangtze River Estuary through land surveys and visits, access to literature and other means. However, in this water where visibility is almost zero, the confluence of rivers and seas is not easy to get a glimpse. For a long time, the muddy water environment has been the bottleneck in the development of underwater archaeology in China, and the waters of the Yangtze River estuary in Shanghai are particularly prominent. To this end, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage organized archaeologists from the Shanghai Cultural Relics Protection Research Center, Shanghai University, the Ningbo Base for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage and other institutions to carry out cross-border cooperation and joint research with scientific and technological workers, independently developed the "Underwater Imaging Device for Muddy Waters" that won the national patent, developed the "Key Technology and Application of Robot Underwater Archaeological Equipment" that won the second prize of the Shanghai Science and Technology Award, and used unmanned boats, multi-beam, side-sweep sonar, shallow stratigraph profiler and magnetometer and other marine geophysical surveying equipment , to carry out underwater joint surveys of the waters of the Yangtze River estuary.
In 2015, when the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics organized the Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Protection and Research Center to carry out a key underwater archaeological survey in the Chongming Hengsha waters at the mouth of the Yangtze River, a relatively well-preserved iron shipwreck was found through sonar scanning and other technologies, and the archaeological number was "Yangtze River Estuary No. 1". After underwater archaeological diving exploration, it was confirmed that the shipwreck was an iron warship of the Republic of China period. Subsequently, archaeologists expanded the scope of surveying and exploration, and found another large and well-preserved wooden ancient shipwreck in the north of the shipwreck, with the archaeological number "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2". The prelude to decoding the ancient ship of "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" has since begun.
In order to further clarify the nature and age of the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship, under the guidance of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, since 2016, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage has taken the lead in organizing the Archaeological Research Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Shanghai Cultural Relics Protection Research Center, the Ningbo Base and Wuhan Base for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, the Shanghai Salvage Bureau of the Ministry of Transport, Shanghai University, the Fuzhou Municipal Cultural Relics and Archaeology Task Force and other domestic professional institutions to conduct underwater archaeological exploration and multidisciplinary research on the shipwreck site every year. After more than 6 years of underwater archaeological investigation and exploration, the basic situation of the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship has been preliminarily explored——
The ancient ship is a wooden sailing ship, the water depth is 8-10 meters, the hull is buried in 5.5 meters deep silt, and the horizontal left tilt is 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 wreck has a complete structure, such as the pointed bow, pile, main mast, left and right sides, and upper deck.
Judging from the current survey situation, the ship type is suspected to be a flat-bottomed sand boat widely used in water transportation during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Through the small-scale cleaning of 4 cabins before and after the selection, 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 quantities of cultural relics that had been completely or repaired.
A large number of artifacts such as purple sand ware, Hookah jars from Vietnam, wooden bucket fragments, masts, large hardwood ship timber, iron anchors, brown cables, pulleys, metal drill bits, drill pipes and black minerals have also been unearthed in and around the hull.
From July to September 2021, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage once again organized underwater archaeology professional institutions to conduct an underwater survey of the ancient ship of "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" and its surroundings, and cleaned out large-scale whole vessels such as Yuan Dynasty porcelain and 60 cm high complete vases of bean green glaze blue and white that were not found in previous surveys. Some of the water porcelain bottom book "Tongzhi Year System" section provides an important basis for the dating of ancient ships.
Wei Jun, a researcher at the Department of Cultural Relics and Museology at Fudan University, told Xinmin Weekly that the upper limit of the age is generally judged according to the latest age in the remains of ships - this is actually very easy to understand. The "Tongzhi Year System" section on the bottom of the porcelain on the ship shows that the ancient ship was from the Tongzhi period or after, and it is absolutely impossible to be the Qianlong Dynasty, otherwise wouldn't it be "crossing"? For the dating of some prehistoric civilizations, it is more dependent on modern dating methods, such as carbon fourteen dating, although there are still confidence intervals, but can calculate a relatively more accurate absolute age. So, is the underwater archaeology more complex or simpler than the onshore archaeology? How does it work? "It's best to see the 'words.' Especially like merchant ships, such as the Xin'an shipwreck (a Chinese Yuan Dynasty shipwreck found in the southwest of the Korean Peninsula in the 1970s), the cargo signature of its cargo makes the corresponding age clear at a glance; and the Song Dynasty shipwreck in Quanzhou Bay is also a cargo signature 'leaking chance'. The latest copper coin found on the 'Nanhai I' is the 'Chunxi Yuanbao' of the Southern Song Dynasty (1174-1189), combined with the ink book of the bottom of a white-glazed Dehua kiln porcelain found in 2018, archaeologists have determined that the exact date of the 'Nanhai I' is 1183 AD or later, that is, the year of the Chunxi period. ...... In short, if archaeologists can find words on ancient shipwrecks, don't be so happy! Wei Jun said eloquently.
protection
The basic situation is clear. Where did the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" come from and where did it go? Why did it overturn? More questions followed.
In this regard, Wei Jun replied that among the cargoes that have been found, the porcelain from Jingdezhen is the most, but this does not mean that the ship is owned by Jingdezhen, it is more likely to depart from a port west of Shanghai along the river, load the porcelain and sail outward. Judging by the Vietnamese hookah on board, either there are Southeast Asians on board, or the final place of sale of the goods is Southeast Asia. The ancient ship is suspected to be a flat-bottomed sand boat, which generally travels in canals, inland rivers and lakes and shallow sea areas, and it is impossible to sail directly to Southeast Asia, so it is speculated that the ship may have to change ships in a Chinese port. The most common causes of shipwrecks are mainly weather problems, such as typhoons and heavy rainstorms; secondly, in complex waterways, reefs are the bane; in addition, improper operation and ship collisions can also lead to ship sinking. "Whether the above inference is accurate or not requires further collation of subsequent materials." I am very much looking forward to some written records on board and to further archaeological discoveries. ”
Why is the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" so important in Shanghai? From a national perspective, the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship fills an important gap for the discovery of large wooden shipwrecks in this historical period of the mainland; provides important empirical evidence for the study of the Maritime Silk Road and the golden waterway of the Yangtze River; and adds important weight to the joint application for heritage of the Maritime Silk Road. From an academic point of view, the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship is well preserved and rich in cultural relics on board, which has 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. From a technical point of view, the underwater archaeological work of the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship has made key technological breakthroughs and achievements in the environment of zero visibility, which provides a new method for the global underwater archaeological research in the complex muddy waters of the estuary coast, opens up new ideas, sets a new benchmark for the world's muddy underwater archaeological technology, and is one of the important symbols of China's underwater archaeology entering the world-class level.
Shanghai's Yangtze River Estuary, will there be new surprises, will there be "Yangtze River Estuary No. 3 No. 4 N"? Wei Jun laughed and said that Shanghai's special geographical location makes ships travel like shuttles, so the probability of finding a shipwreck should be quite high.
In view of the fact that the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship is well preserved and the number of cultural relics on board is large enough to support the construction of an ancient ship museum with great world influence, the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government decided to choose the site of the Yangpu Binjiang Shanghai Shipyard, using two old docks and preserved historical buildings to build the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" Ancient Ship Museum, where archaeologists will gradually unveil the mystery of the Shipwreck of the Qing Dynasty. Can simultaneously carry out archaeological excavations, cultural relics protection and display education, as well as archaeology and intangible cultural heritage living experience, international underwater cultural heritage of scientific research, etc., the ancient ship museum is very "multi-functional", in the future, citizens and friends strolling through the Yangpu Riverside life show, while fully appreciating the charm of underwater archaeology, proud of Chinese archaeology, especially underwater archaeology in the international archaeological community influence and the promotion of discourse power, while immersed in the magnificent legend of the Maritime Silk Road, will be happy, happy and unforgettable.
The "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" Ancient Ship Museum is one of the ways to protect underwater cultural heritage. Wei Jun said that the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage advocates the protection of original sites, "but the principle of preference does not mean that it is the only principle", and the specific situation is analyzed. "When cultural heritage remains stable underwater, we try to protect it in situ. On the contrary, for example, the shipwreck with a large number of cargoes faces the risk of being stolen by lawbreakers; or it is easy to be damaged by the natural environment, fishing operations, and marine engineering, and archaeological excavation or relocation protection is adopted. ”
After the shipwreck is discovered, archaeologists must go into the water to lay out exploration parties, do corresponding cleaning in between, extract archaeological data, and grasp cultural relics information. The reason why the 'Yangtze River Estuary No. 2' uses the arc beam non-contact cultural relics overall migration technology to salvage is because it is found that the visibility of the water is extremely poor, and the normal archaeological work cannot be carried out smoothly - just imagine, after launching the water, the black paint is a mess, how to complete the information collection work such as drawing and photography? Only by scientifically and safely "packing" the wreck and moving it to a place convenient for manual control on the shore can we calmly carry out follow-up work.
Unlike the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" and the "Nanhai I" relocated to the "Crystal Palace", the Chongqing Baiheliang Underwater Museum belongs to the original site protection method. The hull of guangdong's "Nan'ao I" is still in place, making a protective barrier of metal frames, which is also a kind of original site protection - it is worth mentioning that archaeologists regularly return to this metal protection barrier to adopt the "sacrificial anode protection law", and the "protection of protection" shows the intention. Wei Jun pointed out that the shipwreck out of the water is only the "first step in the Long March", and the cultural relics protection work in the later period is far longer than the time spent on the previous archaeological excavation work, and the road is long. "If the progress is relatively fast, it is expected that the archaeological excavation work of the 'Yangtze River Estuary No. 2' will be completed in about four or five years, but the protection and treatment process of desalination and dehydration of the wooden shipwreck may last for more than ten years."
Review
Looking back at China's underwater archaeology, which started late, everything starts in the 1980s.
In the spring of 1985, in the South China Sea, a British salvage ship targeted a Chinese merchant ship that had crashed on the way out of Guangzhou to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, during the Qianlong Dynasty. In April 1986, a large number of blue and white porcelain was auctioned at the Christie Auction House in Amsterdam, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage urgently sent ceramic experts Feng Xianming and Geng Baochang to investigate and found that the blue and white porcelain texture, glaze color, and ornamentation were elegant and luxurious, and the style was in line with the trend of the past, which should be China's export porcelain. This batch of blue and white porcelain, which has great significance for foreign sales in the study, comes from the Chinese merchant ship that sank during the Qianlong period. In June, Xinhua News Agency's article entitled "Mainland Ceramic Experts Suggest Attaching Importance to Underwater Archaeological Work" attracted the attention of relevant central leaders.
In 1987, the then China History Museum organized the establishment of the first institution in mainland China to engage in underwater archaeology research, the Underwater Archaeology Research Laboratory. Mr. Yu Weichao, the curator, deservedly became the pioneer of China's underwater archaeology and the founder of the Department of Underwater Archaeology in China. In October 1989, the first law of the people's republic of China on the protection of underwater cultural relics, the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Protection and Administration of Underwater Cultural Relics, was promulgated. In the same year, China and Japan jointly investigated the "Nanhai I" shipwreck, and China and Australia jointly held the "First Training Course for Underwater Archaeology Professionals".
Song Jianzhong, general secretary of the party branch and deputy director of the Archaeological Research Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, once wrote that after the first five years of underwater archaeology on the mainland (1986-1990) passed, the second five years (1991-1995) were first tested: the archaeological team composed of the first generation of Chinese underwater archaeologists conducted underwater archaeological excavations on the yuan dynasty shipwrecks in Suizhong Sandaogang, Liaoning, which was the first time that the mainland achieved a regular underwater archaeological work by its own strength, and was included in the "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in The Country in 1993". The third five years (1996-2000) flourished. He mainly conducted the Underwater Archaeological Survey inscribed by Bai HeLiang (1996), the Underwater Archaeological Survey of the Paracel Islands and Sea Areas (1996, 1998, 1999), and the Underwater Archaeological Survey of Penny Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong (1999).
In the 21st century, in addition to the successful salvage of the "Nanhai I", the archaeological excavation of the No. 1 shipwreck of Huaguang Reef in Xisha (2007 and 2008), the excavation of the Ming Dynasty shipwreck of the "Nan'ao I" in Guangdong (2010), and the underwater archaeology of the Lamu Islands in Kenya (2010) in China and Kenya have gradually become among the top in the world. In 2012, the Central Organization office approved the China Cultural Heritage Research Institute to hang the "Underwater Cultural Heritage Protection Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage" sign; in 2014, the Underwater Cultural Heritage Protection Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage was independently established and the "Chinese Archaeology 01" special work vessel was completed and delivered. In 2015, the Underwater Archaeology Center of the National Museum of China was merged into the Underwater Cultural Heritage Protection Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. A reorganization and a strong foundation ushered in multi-dimensional expansion - including the comprehensive excavation of the "Nanhai I", the series of investigations of the Jiawu shipwreck, and the breakthrough of deep-sea archaeology (in 2018, the Underwater Cultural Heritage Protection Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage cooperated with the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to establish a joint laboratory for deep-sea archaeology), and the cooperative archaeology of The Port of China-Shassarin.
During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the mainland also held underwater archaeology training courses for countries along the "Belt and Road", conducted the "Research on the Theme of Maritime Silk Road Heritage Application", launched the "Underwater Archaeology", established the Underwater Archaeology Professional Committee of the Chinese Archaeological Society, and so on. In addition, the Ministry of Science and Technology's key research and development project "Research and Development of Key Technologies for Underwater Archaeological Exploration" was approved to approve the project, and it is planned to unite a number of scientific research institutes in the field of marine exploration to jointly solve the technical problems and development bottlenecks that have plagued underwater archaeological survey and detection for many years.
At the end of 2021, the National Marine Archaeological Museum officially settled in Qingdao Blue Valley with the consent of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, which is reported to be the only underwater archaeological museum in the country so far. From April 1, 2022, the revised Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Protection and Administration of Underwater Cultural Relics came into effect.
Recalling the years of personal underwater archaeology, Wei Jun sighed: "The first training course for underwater archaeology professionals in China was only 11 people; by the time I attended the third training course in 2004, there were about 40 people qualified to engage in underwater archaeology work in the mainland. Later, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage increased its training efforts. Nowadays, there seem to be more than a hundred qualified underwater archaeologists in the country, but it is estimated that only half of them really do this line of work and really go into the water. ”
He also pointed out that in recent years, the state has paid more and more attention to underwater archaeology and increased investment. "After 2000, underwater archaeology related institutions have continued to grow and increase in personnel. In terms of universities, Xiamen University has a marine archaeology research center, and Peking University, Fudan University, and Shandong University also offer courses on underwater archaeology. Overall, the development momentum of underwater archaeology is good, but in terms of training intensity, it is still not enough to catch up with the needs. ”
Indeed, due to the particularity of underwater archaeology, the problem of talent reserve has become one of the pain points in the field of underwater archaeology. It is also necessary to have professional knowledge in archaeology, and it is difficult to take into account the skills of underwater operations such as diving. Young talents who have just graduated from archaeology need to spend time to grasp the feeling of "fish in the water", while older experienced talents face a decline in physical strength, which leads to a relatively long training cycle for underwater archaeology professionals and a short employment cycle. "Being able to dive is a prerequisite. The particularity of underwater archaeology from terrestrial archaeology is also reflected in the fact that the means of detection rely more on modern equipment. Be sure to carefully check the full set of devices before entering the water, and have a strong psychological quality after entering the water, and overcome instinctive fear. In addition, archaeology on land, workers will help archaeologists to remove dust and garbage, underwater where are your assistants? Silt or whatever, all by yourself with a suction pipe to get it done. Wei Jun humorously complained, many times the visibility is already poor enough, a mud pumping, the scene is even more "not too beautiful." "If the water is 10 meters deep, a compressed gas cylinder can keep the diver working for nearly 2 hours, but always hold the root suction pipe to repeat the mechanical work, uh... Besides, the mud is not what you want to clear, you can clear it when you say it clearly. The state of silt moves with the flow of water, so on the one hand I am pumping, on the other hand it is constantly silting. ”
If you do marine archaeological work, some locations are very remote, and there is no guarantee of "early departure and late return". In this case, archaeologists will rent a fishing boat and shake the water every day. At the same time, they also need to pay attention to the monsoon – "We usually choose to change the wind during the season, when the sea is the calmest." From April to June, September to November, the first half of the year, the second half of the year and the second half of the work of each month of time, pay close attention to drawing, taking pictures, various records. As soon as the typhoon blew, work was stopped immediately. Wait for next year, heck, the big pit that was dug so hard the year before has been filled! ”
be charmed
Say boring, say hard, say lonely, archaeology needs patience. When the dirt is clean, the cultural relics are out, and the puzzle is solved, the archaeologists will feel that everything is worth it.
Just this March when the Yangtze River Estuary II alarmed China, another shipwreck alarmed the world: the wreck of the "HMS Endurance" was discovered! 3008 meters below the Weddell Sea on the Antarctic Peninsula, the hull is well preserved, and the words on the hull are still clearly visible.
The "Perseverance", which has a status like the "Titanic" in the international archaeological community, is remembered by the world for its "great failure". In the autumn of 1915, an Antarctic expedition was shipwrecked and had to cut the ship, followed by a 20-month, tenacious and bloody survival journey, and all members miraculously survived. In early 1922, sir Ernest Shackleton, the team at the time, once again marched to The South Pole, only to be killed by a heart attack while staying at the Grytviken whaling station in South Georgia. Exactly one hundred years after his body was buried (March 5, 1922), the Perseverance was found.
The heroic years of Antarctic exploration came to an end after Shackleton's death. Churchill was right that the expedition seemed meaningless. Not to mention that they killed seals, penguins, albatrosses, even sled dogs and cats, and by the eyes of the day, cruelty is barbarism. However, their quality of escaping hardships and the strong spirit of mutual cooperation are now the stark contrast of "holding up their minds and brushing their mobile phones with their heads down", which makes it difficult not to be awe-inspiring.
Why do humans love adventure and underwater archaeology? The unknown journey in the distance pulls the pace of progress; the fate of falling underwater can be transformed into another form of endless life. The experience of archaeology is a process of restoring broken and passing things, a process of retrospection against time, and therefore a process of fighting death and witnessing immortality.
In fact, underwater salvage and underwater archaeology are everywhere. The reporter still remembered that the sixth part of the "Complete Collection of Wisdom Tanks" of the childhood guan ," "Jie Zhi", contained "Monk Huai Bing Fishing For Iron Bulls", and the fourteenth volume of the "Notes on Reading Wei Caotang" contained "Seeking Two Stone Beasts in the Water", which was praised and praised by individuals, which was an individual's first impression of "underwater salvage". (P.s. Is Sima Xiaoguang's smashing of the cylinder a curved, miniature underwater salvage project? Later, the legendary Atlantis, the soul of the deep sea, the lost city of ancient Egypt in the sea near Alexandria, the shipwreck of Columbus, the treasure of Drake... All of them fascinated the reporter and imagined it. The 2018 Hollywood blockbuster "Aquaman" also appropriated and fabricated an Atlantis, and also referred to the works of the master of fantasy horror novels, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and "The Dunwich Horror"— "Unheard of splendor is waiting for me at the bottom of the sea." And I'll be able to look for it soon... We will swim to the looming reef in the sea, follow the black abyss into the majestic Y'ha-nthlei with its towering columns. Henceforth, we will be surrounded by glory and will forever wander in that deep diver's habitat. Although Lovecraft's original intention was to create a sense of trembling "confrontation-attraction", which has nothing to do with underwater archaeology, this whisper is like an illusion, which is the finishing touch to emphasize that "there is a fatal temptation under the water", and friends who are obsessed with history and archaeology can't help but "think of wrong": civilization comes from the water, some local fragments return to the mother body for a long sleep, and occasionally peek at a number of specimens that condense the remnants of the past, and can not be "crazy"!
The waves of the sky are still and long, and the sun sails are more treasures. Underwater archaeology carries the dream of reviving China's marine civilization, and the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" is far from the end. (Reporter Kong Bingxin)