A world-class archaeological discovery! A large ancient shipwreck was discovered in the South my country Sea

The State Administration of Cultural Heritage announced major progress made in deep-sea archaeological work in Sanya, Hainan on the 21st.

On May 20, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage conducted its first underwater archaeological survey, using the "Deep Sea Warrior" manned submersible to set up and deploy permanent underwater mapping base points for the shipwreck in the southwest corner of the core accumulation area of ​​the No. 1 shipwreck on the northwest slope of the South China Sea, and conducted search surveys and video recordings, officially starting the archaeological survey work.

Photo by Ying Ni

Pictured is the manned submersible "Deep Sea Warrior"

The picture shows the underwater permanent mapping base point of the No. 1 shipwreck on the northwest slope of the South China Sea.

It is reported that in January 2018, the Archaeological Research Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly established the "Deep Sea Archaeology Joint Laboratory". In April of that year, the first deep-sea archaeological survey was carried out in the waters of Beijiao in the Xisha Islands.

In August 2022, the second deep-sea archaeological survey was carried out in the Xisha Trough in the northern South China Sea, and one shipwreck relic site and three shipwrecks were newly discovered at a depth of about 2,500 meters .

Image provided by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage

In October of the same year, two ancient shipwrecks were discovered at a depth of about 1,500 meters on the northwest slope of the South my country Sea.

In one of the places, there are several piles of cultural relics that are suspected to be separated by cabins, with the highest height reaching more than 3 meters. The cultural relics are mainly porcelain, scattered over an area of ​​more than 10,000 square meters, and the estimated number is more than 100,000. According to the unearthed cultural relics, it is preliminarily judged that it was from the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty (1506-1521), and was named the South China Sea Northwest Land Slope No. 1 Shipwreck .

Image provided by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage

A large number of logs were found in another place. The logs were of similar size and neatly stacked. Most of them had been simply processed. Preliminary analysis showed that they were ancient shipwrecks that loaded goods from overseas and sailed to China. Based on the unearthed cultural relics, it was preliminarily determined to be from the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty (1488-1505), and was named the South China Sea Northwest Land Slope No. 2 Shipwreck .

Image provided by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage

With the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Archaeological Research Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the China (Hainan) South China Sea Museum will strictly follow the underwater archaeological work procedures and carry out the archaeological survey of the No. 1 and No. 2 shipwreck sites in three phases in about one year. Based on the results of the archaeological survey, they will scientifically evaluate the preservation status and technical conditions of the shipwrecks, and research and propose the next step of archaeological and site protection plans.

Image provided by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage

The first phase of the investigation will be carried out from May 20 to early June. The first underwater archaeological survey was conducted on the 20th. The manned submersible "Deep Sea Warrior" was used to set up and deploy the underwater permanent mapping base points of the shipwreck in the southwest corner of the core accumulation area of ​​the No. 1 shipwreck, and search investigations and video recordings were carried out, officially starting the archaeological survey. The first phase of the investigation will be carried out through underwater search and investigation to find out the distribution range of the cultural relics of the two shipwrecks, conduct multi-angle and all-round data collection and archaeological records of the shipwrecks, and extract a proper amount of representative cultural relic specimens, as well as scientific test samples such as seabed sediments.

Image provided by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage

The No. 1 and No. 2 shipwrecks on the northwest slope of the South China Sea are relatively well preserved, with a huge number of cultural relics and relatively clear ages. They have extremely high historical, scientific and artistic value. They are not only a major discovery in China's deep-sea archaeology, but also a major world-class archaeological discovery . This major discovery verifies the historical facts that Chinese ancestors developed, utilized and traveled to the South China Sea, and has made groundbreaking contributions to China's maritime history, ceramic history, overseas trade history, and the study of the Maritime Silk Road. This major discovery will fully demonstrate the bright prospects of cross-border integration and mutual promotion between China's deep-sea technology and underwater archaeology, and marks that China's deep-sea archaeology is moving towards the world's advanced level.

Source: China News Network