A positive photograph of the 2016 Nankai I. filled compartments of the cargo.
Ruins of Yunan Modao Mountain.
Ruins of the Nanyue National Palace.
South Australia I cabin partitions and porcelain in the cabin.
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Archaeological achievements of Southern Guangdong
Guangdong is the cultural center of Lingnan, the birthplace of the Maritime Silk Road, the source of China's modern democratic revolution, the forefront of reform and opening up, and has rich cultural heritage resources.
By the end of 2021, the province has approved and published more than 25,000 immovable cultural relics, including 1 world cultural heritage site (Kaiping Diaolou and village), 131 national key cultural relics protection units, 755 provincial cultural relics protection units, and more than 5,000 city and county level cultural relics protection units; the "Overseas Chinese Approval Archives" were selected into the World Memory Heritage List. There are 367 registered museums in the province, and the total number of graded museums ranks second in the country; there are 1513 immovable revolutionary cultural relics and 4783 movable precious revolutionary cultural relics/sets, ranking the forefront of the country.
Start-up: Hongmeng chui, the blue wisp of the road
Guangdong is the birthplace of China's first official archaeological institution and the first official academic journal of historical archaeology.
Modern Guangdong led the way in the trend of the times. At the end of March 1928, Cai Yuanpei, president of the National Academy of Sciences, hired Fu Sinian, Gu Jiegang and Yang Zhensheng as executive preparers to prepare for the establishment of the Institute of History and Philology of the Academia Sinica (hereinafter referred to as the "Institute of History and Language") in Guangzhou, which was formally established in July of the same year. On October 22, the "Institute of History and Language" moved to Baiyuan, No. 35, Backstreet, Dongshan Orphanage, Guangzhou, which is China's first national research institution for modern humanities such as archaeology, history and linguistics, and has gathered a number of top scholars such as Chen Yinke, Zhao Yuanren, Li Ji, Luo Changpei, Li Fanggui, Dong Zuobin, etc., and has made brilliant achievements in the archaeological excavation of Yin Ruins, ancient characters, folklore, dialect surveys, anthropology, ethnology and other fields, laying the starting point for the new academic development of modern China. He also founded and published the first official academic journal of historical archaeology, "Proceedings of the Institute of Historical Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences".
In 1929, the Guangzhou Municipal Museum was established, with Xie Yingbo as its president, which was one of the earliest museums in China and the main organizer of archaeological activities in Guangzhou for the next two decades. In 1931, Hu Zhaochun, Yang Chengzhi, Zeng Chuanyuan and others initiated the establishment of China's first professional archaeological group, the Huanghua Archaeological Institute, in Guangzhou, and published the inaugural issue of the archaeological journal "Archaeological Journal" in January 1932.
The first archaeological work in Guangdong began in 1916.
The earliest archaeological work in Guangdong began in 1916, when a wooden tomb of the early years of the Western Han Dynasty was excavated in Guigang, Dongshan, Guangzhou. From January 1931 to January of the following year, Hu Zhaochun of Sun Yat-sen University and others presided over six excavations and investigations, successively excavating the Maoergang Han Tomb in the eastern suburbs of Guangzhou, the former site of the Shangwang Mansion in the Qing Dynasty in the back garden of the Department of Education (now the State Guest House on Jiefang North Road in Guangzhou), the Jin Tomb of Dadaoshan in the western suburbs, and three investigation activities targeting the tombs of the Han to the Southern Dynasties. In the 1940s, Gu Tiefu, Rao Zongyi and others also conducted some archaeological surveys in the Han River Basin in eastern Guangdong, and collected some stone tools and pottery pieces.
In general, before the founding of New China, The cultural relics and archaeology work in Guangdong was mainly concentrated in the Pearl River Delta and eastern Guangdong, and a number of ancient cultural relics and sites in South China were discovered, which filled the gap in the archaeology of South China and even China to a certain extent.
Set sail: Sparks, inheriting the past and starting the future
——In the 1950s, the cultural relics protection and management system in Guangdong was gradually improved.
At the beginning of the founding of New China, a hundred wastes were waiting to be rebuilt, and at this stage, Guangdong carried out the first census of cultural relics in a planned and large-scale manner. Through the census work throughout the province (including Hainan Island), many neolithic to pre-Qin sites were found, and the distribution of cultural relics in the province was basically understood, and excavation work was carried out for the more important sites, and many archaeological achievements were achieved, such as: Zengcheng Jinlan Temple site, Xiqiao Mountain stone tool manufacturing field, Qujiang "Maba people" site, Qujiang catfish turn site, Qujiang Horseshoe Ping site, etc.
——In the 1960s and 1970s, Guangdong's cultural relics and archaeology work achieved a number of major achievements.
After the 1960s, Guangdong's cultural relics and archaeology gradually entered a period of stable development. At this stage, the achievements of archaeology in our province are remarkable: in 1960, the Provincial Cultural Relics Management Committee, the History Department of South China Normal University and the Cultural and Cultural Personnel of Shaoguan District formed a cultural relics census team to conduct a cultural relics census in Shaoguan area; from 1962 to 1963, the excavation results of the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States tombs in Qingyuan Matougang once aroused strong repercussions in the academic circles of the province, opening the prelude to the archaeological research of the Lingnan Bronze Age; in 1974, the relevant departments of Guangzhou City excavated the site of the "Qin and Han Shipbuilding Workshop"; 1973 - In 1978, the Cultural Relics Team of Guangdong Provincial Museum excavated the Maba Shixia site, thus opening a window to understand the prehistoric culture of Lingnan, Mr. Su Bingqi proposed and demonstrated the "Shixia Culture", the Shixia site provided valuable information for the study of major academic issues in the field of archaeology such as the theory of "faunal type" and the origin of Chinese civilization, and also cultivated a large number of business backbones for the cultural relics and archaeology work of various cities and counties.
In general, before the founding of New China to the reform and opening up, it was an important stage in the development of cultural relics and archaeology in Guangdong, with the gradual improvement of various laws and regulations, the establishment of cultural relics and archaeological institutions, the significant increase in professional personnel, the gradual deepening of archaeological work, and the work of cultural relics and archaeology in all aspects was on the right track.
Development: Gradually entering a better state, fruitful
After the reform and opening up, Guangdong initially established an archaeological context and cultural system with Lingnan characteristics.
Since the reform and opening up, Guangdong, as a pioneer region and frontier position, has carried out rapid economic construction and vigorously developed cultural relics and archaeology.
The province's cultural and exhibition institutions continue to improve and the number continues to grow. In 1978, there were only 34 cultural and cultural institutions, which increased to 204 in 2008. In 1977, the Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relics Store was established, and in 1984 it was changed to the Provincial Cultural Relics General Store. In 1979, the Provincial Museum resumed the responsibility system of curators, and in 2003, a new Museum of Guangdong Province was built in Zhujiang New Town, Guangzhou. In 1990, the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology was established. In 1997, the Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relics Appraisal Station was established (hanging the sign of the Guangdong Station for the Export appraisal of National Cultural Relics). The vast majority of cities and counties in the province have successively established museums, and cities and counties have successively set up cultural relics management committees, and set up cultural relics departments or social and cultural departments within the Cultural Bureau to be responsible for the management of cultural relics museums within their jurisdictions.
At the same time, Guangdong Wenbo famous artists are emerging. Successive generations of cultural and cultural workers have combined theory with practice, and a number of outstanding cultural relics workers have emerged, such as the late famous cultural relics archaeologists Shang Chengzuo, Mai Yinghao, He Jisheng, and Zhu Feisu, who devoted their lives to the cause of cultural relics.
——Guangdong's cultural relics and archaeology work has achieved a number of historic breakthroughs and laid the foundation for advantageous projects.
During this period, Guangdong archaeology began to enter the "Golden Age", and has won 8 of the annual top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country: the remains of the Royal Garden of the Nanyue State Palace In 1995, the remains of the Nanyue State Royal Garden in Guangzhou, Guangdong in 1997, the pre-Qin cemetery of Hengling Mountain in Boluo, Guangdong in 2000, the Shang Dynasty Ruins in Wubeiling in Shenzhen, Guangdong in 2001, the Second Mausoleum of the South Han Dynasty in Guangzhou University Town in Guangdong in 2004, the Neolithic Ruins of Xiantouling in Shenzhen, Guangdong in 2006, the Ancient Coconut Shell Hill Ruins in Gaoming, and the Shantou in Guangdong in 2010" Nan'ao I" Ming Dynasty Shipwreck Site. He has won 5 national field archaeology awards and 1 national innovation and scientific and technological progress award, of which the overall salvage project of "Nanhai I. " and the excavation project of "Nan'ao I." have made the underwater archaeology work of our province in the forefront of the country.
In terms of cultural heritage protection, in 2007, Kaiping Diaolou and the village were successfully included in the World Cultural Heritage List, achieving a breakthrough of zero world cultural heritage. From 1982 to 1986 and from 2007 to 2012, the province's cultural relics system organized the second and third national cultural relics censuses to find out the status of immovable cultural relics in the province. After the third national cultural relics census, Guangdong Province approved and announced more than 25,000 general immovable cultural relics, of which 98 are national key cultural relics protection units, 613 are cultural relics protection units in Guangdong Province, and more than 5,000 are city and county level cultural relics protection units.
Brilliant: Heeling things to increase the glory, vigorously forging ahead
-- Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Guangdong's cultural relics and archaeology have embarked on a new journey of high-quality development.
Eagerly anticipated, the heavy responsibility is on the shoulders. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the vast number of cultural relics and archaeologists in the province have resolutely implemented the decision-making and deployment of the superiors on the protection and utilization of cultural relics, comprehensively grasped the new requirements, new tasks, and new contradictions in the development of cultural relics and archaeology, effectively strengthened archaeological work and historical research, and repeatedly achieved good results in the journey of building archaeology with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style, and Chinese style, and the cause of cultural relics and archaeology in the province has shown a good development trend.
In the past ten years, the team of cultural relics and archaeology in Guangdong Province has continued to grow, the institutions have been continuously improved, and the system has been continuously improved. In 2012, with the approval of the Office of the Provincial Institutional Establishment Committee, the Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics is an administrative unit directly under the Provincial Department of Culture, with no fixed level, and there are 2 internal institutions at the department level: the General Department (Museum and Social Relics Division), the Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology Division, and the director of the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau (which can be served by deputy department-level cadres) 1, the deputy director (concurrently serving as the director of the department), and the number of leading positions at the deputy department level. In 2021, the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province will add a Revolutionary Cultural Relics Department to guide the protection, management and utilization of revolutionary cultural relics in the province. In March 2022, the former Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology was officially renamed as "Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology", which is a public welfare first-class public institution at the department level of the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and the 50 people compiled from the original financial subsidy type I undertaking were expanded to 91. The promulgation of policy and regulatory documents such as the Implementation Opinions of the People's Government of Guangdong Province on Further Strengthening the Work of Cultural Relics (2016), the Action Plan of Guangdong Province to Strengthen the Reform of the Protection and Utilization of Cultural Relics (2019), the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Project for the Protection and Utilization of Revolutionary Cultural Relics in Guangdong Province (2019), the Several Measures for Strengthening the Protection and Utilization of Grotto Temples in Guangdong Province (2021), and the Regulations on the Protection of Revolutionary Sites in Guangdong Province (2022), It provides a legal basis and institutional guarantee for the further development of cultural relics and archaeology in Guangdong Province.
The level of cultural heritage protection has been continuously improved. In the list released by the State Council in 2019, 33 new national key cultural relics protection units were added in the province, an increase of 34%, and the number of new important historical sites and representative buildings in modern and modern times ranked first in the country. It has built four major professional forces of cultural relics architectural survey and design, immovable cultural relics protection research, historical and cultural city (historical district, village and town) protection, and revolutionary cultural relics protection, and took the lead in completing the task of moving cultural relics census in the country. It has carried out the planning and compilation of important archaeological sites such as the ruins of Yunan Modao Mountain, the ruins of Yingde Qingtang, and the ruins of the ancient coconut shell hill, the protection and research of cultural heritage such as foshan ancestral temple, Qinghui Garden, and Ye Ting's former residence, completed the special survey of cultural heritage of Danxia Mountain, the preparation of the plan for the creation of a national cultural relics protection and utilization demonstration area in Chaozhou, and the protection and utilization of the nanyue ancient yidao, and the three repair projects of Foshan Ancestral Temple, Shunde Chen's Ancestral Ancestral Hall and Heyuan Rongfengdi (Xiankeng Four Corner Tower) were awarded the "National Excellent Cultural Relics Maintenance Project".
The number and level of red resources in the province rank first in the country, and a number of work innovations are the first in the country. Guangdong is the province with the longest duration, the most complete sequence and the most complete range of revolutionary cultural relics, covering and running through the opening chapter of modern and modern China, the old democratic revolution, the new democratic revolution, the agrarian revolution, the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation, the socialist revolution and construction, and the reform and opening up. There are 57 revolutionary museums in the province, 13 national red tourism classic scenic spots, 21 cities and 82 counties listed in the National Revolutionary Cultural Relics Protection and Utilization Area, which is one of the few provinces in the country with full coverage. In 2021, the first batch of "Guangdong Provincial Revolutionary Cultural Relics Directory" was approved and announced, including 1513 immovable revolutionary cultural relics, of which 30 were national key cultural relics protection units, ranking fourth in the country; 4783 movable revolutionary cultural relics (sets), all of which were precious cultural relics. The provincial party committee and the provincial government have issued a series of documents on the protection and utilization of revolutionary cultural relics and revolutionary sites, and established a joint conference system for provincial cultural relics safety work. Provincial finance has set up a special fund for the protection and utilization of Red Revolution sites, and arranged 1.5 billion yuan for the protection and utilization of revolutionary sites in five years from 2019. It is the first in the country to establish a "year repair" system, and give priority to the rescue protection of endangered revolutionary cultural relics. The Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the Provincial Financial Supervision Bureau, and Guangdong Life Property & Casualty Insurance jointly donated insurance with an insurance amount of 4.95 billion yuan to 135 revolutionary cultural relics protection units at or above the provincial level, becoming the first case of participation in cultural relics protection in the national financial and insurance industry, providing protection for revolutionary cultural relics and visitors in the event of major natural disasters. The renovation and expansion of the memorial hall of the Third National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the former residence of Sun Yat-sen and other more than 20 cultural relics protection units have been upgraded. Sort out and investigate the historical materials and scenes of the eastern section of the Central Red Traffic Line in Guangdong, and effectively promote the protection and utilization of the Central Red Traffic Line and the Hong Kong Cultural Celebrity Rescue Route. Carry out the construction of "Revitalization and Utilization of Old School Sites in Northern Guangdong during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression - South China Education and History Research Base", and create a database of literary and historical materials. Innovatively propose and release the Guangdong Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Cultural Heritage Trail and the Guangdong Provincial Historical and Cultural Trail, establish a full-process construction model of "revolutionary cultural relics protection and repair - display and display - surrounding environment improvement - red tourist scenic spots", and promote the integration of revolutionary cultural relics culture and tourism.
Guangdong has become one of the provinces with the most abundant and diverse project of "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China".
The existing Yingde Qingtang Ruins in Shenzhen, the Neolithic Ruins of Xiantouling in Shenzhen, the Ruins of the State Palace of Nanyue in Guangzhou, the Second Tomb of the Southern Han Dynasty in Guangzhou University Town, the "Nanhai I." Southern Song Dynasty Shipwreck, the "Nan'ao I." Ming Dynasty Shipwreck, and 11 archaeological excavation projects have been rated as "Top Ten Archaeological New Discoveries in China" by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, which is the "Top Ten" projects involving the most complete chronology (from the early Paleolithic Period to the middle and late Ming Dynasty), the richest types of sites (including caves, sand dunes, shell mounds, cemeteries, palace gardens, shipwrecks, etc.), One of the provinces with the most diverse modus operandi (land and underwater archaeology go hand in hand). For example, the Ruins of Modao Mountain in Yunnan, Guangdong Province, and the Paleolithic Site Group of the Nanjiang River were rated as the top ten archaeological discoveries in China in 2014. The first site of the Ruins of Yunan Modao Mountain is the earliest confirmed ancient human cultural relics in Guangdong, which advances the history of the earliest human activities in Guangdong from about 130,000 years ago to hundreds of thousands of years ago, filling the gap in the early paleolithic human culture in Guangdong, and is a major breakthrough in prehistoric archaeology in Guangdong.
In addition, the Yingde Qingtang Site Project won the top ten new archaeological discoveries in China in 2018, which is a new breakthrough in prehistoric archaeology in South China and has great academic significance for the understanding and discussion of the development of prehistoric humans and cultures in East Asia and Southeast Asia. The continuous stratigraphy and cultural sequences reveal the coupling relationship between environmental change and cultural evolution, which provides an important yardstick for the academic research of the old-Neolithic transition stage in South China and even Southeast Asia; the discovery of tombs and human bones has great value for the study of primitive religious beliefs, social complexity, and physical evolution and diffusion of regional modern populations in the late Paleolithic period; rich cultural remains are used to study the primitive settlement forms, the emergence and spread of early pottery, the characteristics and diversity of modern human behavior in south China, The relationship between regional prehistoric cultures provides valuable materials and provides new opportunities for deciphering cutting-edge topics such as the emergence and spread of modern humans in the eastern Old World, the prehistoric cultural exchanges in East and Southeast Asia, and the transformation of livelihood patterns in the Old-Neolithic transition.
Guangdong is the birthplace and witness of China's underwater archaeology, has experienced the whole process of China's underwater archaeology starting and developing to glory, in the overall salvage, underwater excavation protection, underwater digital technology archaeology and other aspects of the forefront of the country, has excavated and protected the "South China Sea I" Southern Song Dynasty shipwreck, "Nan'ao I." Ming Dynasty shipwreck, Zhanjiang Qiaozhou Island Qing Dynasty shipwreck, etc., of which "Nan'ao I." was selected as one of the top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country in 2010, becoming the first underwater archaeological project to be selected for the award; It has become a classic case of the protection of the world's underwater cultural heritage, and was selected as one of the top ten new archaeological discoveries in China in 2019. "Nanhai I" is an early Merchant Ship of the Southern Song Dynasty discovered in 1987 in the Taishan Sea area of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Province, and is the earliest, largest and most complete preserved ocean-going trade merchant ship among the maritime shipwrecks discovered in the world so far, providing extremely rare physical information for the restoration of the history of the Maritime Silk Road and the history of ceramics. With the rich historical and cultural information it carries, "Nanhai I" has become a landmark discovery of China's ancient Maritime Silk Road and a shining pearl in the treasure house of world historical and cultural heritage. "Nanhai I" extracted a variety of cultural relics, mainly ceramics, copper and iron, gold and silverware, lacquered wood, coins, cinnabar, animal and plant remains, plant cores, etc., a total of about 180,000 cultural relics were excavated, creating the highest number of excavations in a single archaeological project in the country, of which more than 170,000 sets of porcelain. 213 sets of gold ware are about 3.5kg, 198 pieces of silverware are about 300kg, 196 sets of bronzeware (some are copper coins and copper rings), 13 sets of ironware, 60 sets of lead and tin metalware, 98 sets of bamboo and wood lacquerware, 26 sets of stone jade glassware, and 274 sets of unknown materials. In addition, 139 pieces of ship wood, 2931 specimens, and 130 tons of iron condensation were extracted. The wreck was 22.95 meters long and 9.85 meters wide, the deepest cabin inside the ship was 2.7 meters, and the bow and bow keel had been exposed. The whole ship is divided into 15 cabins, the cabins are separated by bulkheads; the existing 13 cabins and the 2 sternnel capsules symmetrically arranged on the left and right of the stern, which have lasted for more than 30 years before and after the discovery and salvage excavation work, which is a microcosm of the development of underwater archaeology in Guangdong and China, and has witnessed the development process of the field of underwater archaeology in the mainland from scratch to maturity and growth.
In 2021, coinciding with the centenary of modern Chinese archaeology, the ruins of the Nanyue State Palace in Guangzhou, the tomb of the Nanyue King and the shipwreck of the "Nanhai I." were selected as the "Top 100 Archaeological Discoveries in the Past Century", and the Yingde Rock Cottage Site was selected as a major project of "Archaeology in China".
Open a new chapter, the original heart is like a rock, and the pace is not stopped. Guangdong will, as always, do a good job in archaeological work and historical research, focus on key areas and key links, adhere to the equal emphasis on forging long boards and making up for shortcomings, accelerate the high-quality development of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in Guangdong, make new contributions to promoting the construction of a higher level of culturally strong province, and create a new situation in Guangdong's cultural relics and archaeology work!
Author: Huang Kunyuan Yang Yi Guan Yuqing Yue Wen Travel Xuan
Coordinator: Bi Jiaqi
The pictures are provided by the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province
Editor-in-chief: He Xuefeng