Qilu Evening News reporter Zhang Xiangyang
Since April 1, the revised Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Protection and Administration of Underwater Cultural Relics have come into force, so when did underwater archaeology begin, and what are the classic cases of underwater archaeology in China? A few days ago, the Archaeological Research Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the China Cultural Relics Newspaper and the relevant media platform jointly launched the second season of the "Chinese Archaeology Lecture Hall" series of open classes underwater archaeology. The first lecture was delivered by Song Jianzhong, deputy director and researcher of the Archaeological Research Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, who introduced the production process of underwater archaeology and the development process of Chinese underwater archaeology for more than 30 years from an academic perspective and the personal experience of witnesses. The reporter of Qilu Evening News listened to this wonderful lecture with many archaeology enthusiasts.
"The richest museum at the bottom of the sea"
"Underwater archaeology is actually concerned with the various material cultural relics left by humans in the ocean on the planet we live on." Song Jianzhong said that in the 1830s, the British geologist Charles Lyell was the first to say in his book "Principles of Geology" that in the process of human history evolution, the number of human artworks and industrial monuments gathered on the seabed may be more than that preserved at any time on land. In 1925, the French archaeologist Reinac said that the richest museum in the ancient world sits on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.
Underwater archaeology is an integral part of archaeology, an extension of terrestrial archaeology into the waters. What is the object of underwater archaeology? According to reports, on November 2, 2001, the 31st session of the GENERAL CONFERENCE of UNESCO officially adopted a convention on the protection of underwater cultural heritage. The Convention stipulates that underwater cultural heritage is the remnant of all human existence of cultural, historical or archaeological value that has been underwater periodically or continuously for at least 100 years. The Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage stipulates three main categories of underwater archaeology, namely: sites, buildings, houses, handicrafts and human remains, as well as their archaeologically valuable environment and natural environment;
Porcelain from the Tang Dynasty shipwreck "Black Stone"
Shipwrecks are the most encountered in underwater archaeology, such as the Tang Dynasty shipwreck "Black Stone", which found more than 67,000 artifacts of Changsha kilns, as well as some porcelain from other places; then there is the Gothenburg, which carries about 700 tons of Chinese objects, mainly tea, porcelain, silk and rattan.
Song Jianzhong said that in fact, in addition to shipwrecks, underwater archaeological sites also include ports, docks, etc., or because of earthquakes or tsunamis, or some other disasters, these sites that are sunk on the seabed today have been formed. For example, the underwater ancient city of Alexandria in Egypt originally existed only in the records of literature. In the 1990s, underwater archaeologists discovered artifacts and the location of ancient cities 6-7 kilometers from the coast, and without underwater archaeology, we could not verify the authenticity of the documents.
Domestic underwater sites, such as the ancient city of Junzhou at danjiangkou in Hubei Province, were submerged in the 1960s due to the construction of the Danjiangkou Reservoir. The city is more than forty meters underwater, and after physical exploration, it has been found that its underwater outline is about three square kilometers. In addition, there are well-known Sichuan "Jiangkou Shenyin Ruins", Hainan undersea village ruins and so on.
Early underwater archaeology stemmed from curiosity in treasure hunting
It should be said that underwater archaeology began in the Mediterranean, and the early attention paid to underwater remains in the West actually existed from the Middle Ages.
Song Jianzhong sorted out the background of western underwater archaeology, mainly in three aspects.
One is curiosity on a treasure hunt. In the Mediterranean region of the ancient Greek period, there was an underwater cotton harvesting behavior (sponge collection). At that time, people found ancient shipwrecks or some cargo by diving on the bottom of the sea, attracting people to explore or treasure hunting. By the 15th century Italians had discovered a shipwreck of an ancient Roman emperor in Lake Nemi. So curiosity is an early act that led to underwater archaeology.
The second factor is modern archaeology. In the middle of the 19th century, after the birth of modern archaeology, including the beginning of modern marine scientific research, from terrestrial archaeology to underwater archaeology.
The third background is the development of diving technology. In 1943, the French Navy's Kust Group invented the light diving technology, which really promoted the development of underwater archaeology. After the invention of light diving technology, archaeologists can dive directly into the water in a diving suit, which truly produces modern underwater archaeology.
According to Song Jianzhong, there are several important nodes in the process of underwater archaeology in the West. The first is the Shipwreck of Lake Nemi in Italy, according to historical records, the ancient Roman Emperor Caligula built two 70-meter giant ships, which later sank to the bottom of the lake.
In 1446, an architect Albert identified the location of the shipwreck; in 1535, Demagy fished out some masonry, bronze, and lead; by 1827 someone had tried to salvage it, but failed; in 1895, a dealer salvaged bronze lions and other artifacts, but was stopped by the government; from 1929 to 1932, Italy excavated the two ships, but after excavating the ships, they were destroyed by the Germans in World War II in 1944. From its discovery in 1446 to its destruction in 1944, for about 500 years, the two shipwrecks have been explored continuously throughout history.
The second is the prehistoric lakeshore wooden stake building in the Alpine region, which in the more than 100 years from the 1850s, cultural remains from about 5000 BC to 500 BC have been found in the Alpine region, including watery lakes and wetlands. In 2011, Switzerland led the united six countries including Austria to select 111 relics of the "prehistoric lake shore wooden pile building in the Alpine region" as a World Cultural Heritage Site.
An auction stung the Chinese archaeological community
What kind of process has the development of underwater archaeology undergone in China to this day?
"As early as the mid-1970s, Xia Nai's generation of archaeologists had the desire to establish their own underwater archaeology." According to Song Jianzhong. In 1974 and 1975, in order to understand the ancient cultural relics on the coastal islands, the mainland carried out two cultural relics surveys on the main islands and reefs of the Paracel Islands and achieved important results, which are recorded in the "Xia Nai Diary" about this matter in four articles, which are related to underwater archaeology. In 1974, the Excavation of Quanzhou Houzhu Shipwreck, an ancient Ship of the Song Dynasty engaged in trade on the Maritime Silk Road, is also mentioned in Xia Nai's diary.
Therefore, Mr. Yu Weichao, a famous archaeologist, once pointed out that in the mainland, the desire to establish its own underwater archaeology began to understand the cultural remains of the coastal islands, and the archaeological survey on the Paracel Islands in the 1970s was a concrete example.
Song Jianzhong said: "There is a direct trigger for the occurrence of underwater archaeology in China, that is, the shipwreck of the 'Goethe Walson' in 1752 (the winter of the seventeenth year of the Qianlong Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty)." At that time, the Goethe Walson sank in the South China Sea on its way out of Canton for Amsterdam. In 1984, British businessman Michelle Hatcher carried out a commercial salvage. After the salvage, in April and May 1986, Hatcher commissioned Chinese Qing Dynasty porcelain salvaged in the South China Sea to the Dutch Carlstotel Company for auction in Amsterdam. At that time, about 150,000 pieces of porcelain and 125 gold ingots were auctioned, and the total value was about 20 million US dollars. This move has deeply stung the Chinese archaeological community, aroused strong dissatisfaction in the Chinese archaeology and museological circles, and also aroused the great concern of the Chinese government.
On March 2, the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship overall migration project was tested in proportion to the same proportion.
In March 1987, the "Coordination Group for Underwater Archaeology Work" organized by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage was established and the first coordination meeting was held. In August of the same year, the Guangzhou Rescue and Salvage Bureau of the Ministry of Communications and the British Maritime Salvage Company jointly discovered the wreck of the "Nanhai No. 1". In November, the Underwater Archaeology Research Laboratory of the China History Museum was established, and these three events marked the official opening of China's underwater archaeology. "Mr. Yu Weichao, then director of the China History Museum, deservedly became the pioneer of China's underwater archaeology and the founder of the department of underwater archaeology in China." Song Jianzhong said.
In 1989, the state promulgated the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Protection and Administration of Underwater Cultural Relics, and carried out the first training course on underwater archaeology and the first survey of "Nanhai No. 1".
The history of Chinese underwater archaeology for more than 30 years
Song Jianzhong told the development process of Underwater Archaeology in China over the past 30 years:
Since 1991, excavations have been carried out on the Yuan Dynasty shipwrecks of Sandaogang in Suizhong, Liaoning Province; underwater archaeological surveys were conducted on the Xisha Islands from 1998 to 1999; underwater archaeological surveys of The South China Sea No. 1 at the beginning of this century were completed in 2003, the Yangjiang base dedicated to underwater archaeology was completed in 2003, and the overall salvage of Nanhai No. 1 was carried out in 2007; from 2007 to 2008, the wreck of Huaguang Reef No. 1 in the Xisha Islands was excavated; and in 2010, archaeological excavations were conducted on the Shipwreck No. 1 in Nan'ao Underwater archaeological survey of the Nansha Islands in 2015; a series of surveys of the Jiawu shipwreck of the Beiyang Marine Division from 2014 to 2020. In addition, in 2016, China and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement, and the Sino-Saudi cooperation archaeological excavations at the port of Salem site were carried out.
Cultural relics of The Water outlet of South Australia No. 1
From 1991 to 1997, underwater archaeologists carried out six excavations by underwater archaeologists in the Yuan Dynasty shipwreck in Suizhong, Liaoning Province, which is of great academic significance for the study of the history of maritime trade and ceramic production in the ancient northern region of the mainland. This archaeology found a large number of porcelain and iron tools, the porcelain is mainly from the Yuan Dynasty Cizhou kiln, which should be the Maritime Silk Road in the north, or a shipwreck facing the Northeast Asian region. Mr. Yu Weichao commented on this archaeology: it is the first time that the mainland has realized a formal underwater archaeological work entirely by its own strength. This archaeology was awarded the 1993 National Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries.
"Nanhai No. 1" is a wooden ancient shipwreck that was wrecked and sunk while transporting porcelain on the Maritime Silk Road in the early Southern Song Dynasty, sailed out of Quanzhou Port and sank in the waters of Taishan City, which is the first shipwreck site found in China, dating back more than 800 years. A total of more than 180,000 cultural relics have been produced in the shipwreck, which is of great significance for the study of the ancient shipbuilding history, ceramic history, shipping history, and trade history of the mainland and even the whole of East asia and Southeast Asia.
"Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" ancient ship part of the water cultural relics
From 2010 to 2012, the joint archaeological excavation of "Nan'ao No. 1" was carried out, with a total of nearly 30,000 cultural relics, the ancient sink was 27 meters long and 7.8 meters wide, with a total of 25 cabins, which is the largest number of cabins found in the Ming Dynasty shipwrecks so far, where is its significance?" Nan'ao No. 1 "is in the Ming Dynasty Wanli period, which coincides with the Era of Great Navigation, and is related to the "Manila Galleon" trade, from which we can glimpse the trade form of the Great Navigation Age. What is the background of international trade in the Age of Discovery? The famous scholar Gund Frank in the book "Silver Capital: Attaching Importance to the East in Economic Globalization" believes that from 1400 to 1800 AD, it was a single world trading system pattern centered on China, when a large number of high-quality and inexpensive goods in China were sold to the world, and the world's silver flowed to China.