What are the secrets of the ancients hidden in the 1500-meter submarine ancient shipwreck in the South China Sea？
On June 10th, National Cultural Heritage Administration released the latest progress of underwater survey of two ancient shipwrecks in the South China Sea. According to the introduction of National Cultural Heritage Administration Archaeological Research Center, as of June 6, 2023, more than 70 pieces of cultural relics were extracted from the No.1 shipwreck, and more than 20 pieces of cultural relics were extracted from the No.2 shipwreck, including bowls and plates, as well as beautifully shaped and colorful porcelain wares. After the submersible was recovered, it was immediately protected by cleaning, soaking, desalting and sampling. This series of major discoveries has provided valuable physical evidence for the history of Chinese ceramics, the history of overseas trade, and the study of the Maritime Silk Road, and has made a breakthrough contribution.
Not long ago, these two ancient shipwrecks of Ming Dynasty were discovered by the deep-sea archaeological team aboard the "Exploration No.1" scientific research ship and using the "Deep Sea Warrior" in the waters about 1500m deep on the northwest slope of the South China Sea. According to the preliminary judgment, they were temporarily named as Shipwreck No.1 and Shipwreck No.2 during the Hongzhi and Zhengde years of Ming Dynasty, that is, around 1500 AD, and it is estimated that the number of cultural relics exceeded 100,000.
With the advancement of archaeological work, the ancient sunken ships sleeping in the deep sea, like pearls left behind by history, are about to reveal mysterious light.
How to determine the age of the silent shipwreck in the deep sea?
How on earth was the age of these two ancient sunken ships determined? Hundreds of years ago, where did they come from and where did they go? What are over 100,000 cultural relics? What kind of stories are they hiding?
At present, the joint archaeological team has carried out the first underwater archaeological survey aboard the "Deep Sea Warrior", with the goal of clarifying the distribution scope of the cultural relics of the two shipwrecks and extracting representative cultural relics specimens. The second and third stages will be held in August this year and March next year respectively.
Judging from the information provided at present, a large number of shipments are Jingdezhen porcelain. What information can be transmitted to us through these porcelain? After hundreds of years of sinking, the deep sea is silent. How is the age of the sunken ship determined? Let’s listen to the expert’s interpretation.
Qin Dashu, a professor in Peking University, said that Jingdezhen porcelain is very mature in stages, because an archaeological site dates back to the latest artifacts, so there are things from Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty, but when the ship sank, it should be the time of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty. Perhaps further argumentation is needed after full salvage in the future. At present, it is time for Hongzhi to be virtuous. This period is a small peak of China porcelain export.
Why can goods be well preserved after sinking in the deep sea for more than 500 years?
Two Ming Dynasty shipwrecks, with a depth of 1,500 meters, have more than 100,000 pieces of cargo, among which there are many treasures of scattered porcelain. We can’t help but ask, why can these two ships be so well preserved after they have sunk on the seabed for more than 500 years? Let’s listen to the interpretation of experts.
Qin Dashu told reporters that the ship was so clearly placed on the seabed, and the quality of porcelain was so high that it was very, very rare, which was a very important discovery. There are several conditions here: first, it is difficult to see the whole picture of a sunken ship when it is found under it, but the South China Sea has a hard bottom, so no matter how deep it is, after diving, you can see that this pile of porcelain is lying on the surface, and there is a hard bottom below it, so it will not be silted. No matter how the ship sinks, these things are not silted, which can really show the face of the sunken ship in a more comprehensive way.
That is to say, in the Ming Dynasty more than 500 years ago, these two ships loaded with goods were originally on a promising voyage, but they accidentally sank in this sea area, drawing the final chapter of the voyage.
At present, experts have basically concluded that the No.1 sunken ship started from the southeast coast of China, loaded with abundant cargo, and headed south to a middle port in Southeast Asia. On the other hand, the No.2 sunken ship has a single cargo, mainly logs that have been simply processed. The destination of the purchased cargo is probably Guangzhou, China, and this judgment is related to another famous sunken ship in the Yuan Dynasty. Qin Dashu said that this is the Xin ‘an shipwreck discovered by South Korea. More than 20,000 pieces of China porcelain were unearthed from the Xin ‘an shipwreck, which is of very high quality. More than 1000 pieces of rosewood have also emerged from this sunken ship.
Some people think that this sunken ship sailed from Indo-China Peninsula to Qingyuan Port in Yuan Dynasty, which is now Ningbo, and then sailed to Japan when it was hit by a storm and sank on the Korean Peninsula. This shows that Qingyuan (Ningbo) was one of the most important intermediate ports at that time, which was a trade distribution center. The intermediate port is constantly changing. The intermediate port in Yuan Dynasty should be Qingyuan, now Ningbo. By the middle of next year, the intermediate port will become Guangzhou.
What is the significance of discovering gold-plated porcelain for studying the development of porcelain?
According to experts, the cargo carried by the No.1 sunken ship is mainly Jingdezhen porcelain, and the daily dishes and large and small jars are mostly used to hold organic matter, which may be pickles, tea and so on. In addition, some objects are very beautiful, such as the Vava ware with great ornamental value. Fa Hua is a ceramic decoration technique, also known as "powder flower", which began in Yuan Dynasty and flourished in Ming Dynasty. Most of them are yellow, green and purple, and there are other colors such as blue and white. The colors are gorgeous, the lines are vivid and the image is concise, which has a unique Shanxi style and special decorative effect.
If the shipwreck site is equivalent to a time capsule, which completely preserves the information fragments of a certain era, then it reflects not only the cargo on board, but also the comprehensive information of society, politics, life and route geography, which is also reflected incisively and vividly on the No.2 shipwreck.
The sunken ship No.2 was carrying the whole ship’s logs. What was the intermediate port that was supposed to go to? How can this help us to restore the busy scene of the ancient Maritime Silk Road?
According to experts, the porcelains from various real estates should be transported to intermediate ports, such as Ningbo or Guangzhou, where there are porcelains from Longquan Kiln, and porcelain from Cizhou Kiln, which is transported to the north through the Grand Canal. The rosewood from Southeast Asia is also placed here, so you can buy products from all over the world at this port, and you can start with one-stop purchase and direct shipment. The sunken ship No.2, which is full of logs, is equivalent to simply purchasing logs by "sea express", and the intermediate port is equivalent to a large supermarket.
Qin Dashu said that all the wood may not be used in China, but it may be shipped to Ryukyu, Southeast Asia and even other parts of Southeast Asia, and even further to the Middle East. So this ship is very single, which shows that the mode of intermediate port trade is also very important. Of course, further analysis is needed.
Found behind the sunken ship
It is a close hand in hand between science and technology and archaeology.
On the morning of the 11th, with the arrival of the "Exploration No.1" scientific research ship in Sanya, the first-stage archaeological investigation of the sunken ships No.1 and No.2 on the northwest slope of the South China Sea was successfully concluded.
It took more than 20 days, 21 dives, and an archaeological investigation without precedent. The mysterious ancient shipwreck, after waiting for more than 500 years, met with the deep-sea archaeological team under the blue waves.
Open a new chapter in deep-sea archaeology
On may 20, 2023, the northwest slope of the south China sea was about 1500 meters deep. Aboard the manned submersible "Deep Sea Warrior", China cultural relics workers laid the permanent underwater surveying and mapping base points on the seabed. This marks the official start of this investigation and opens a new chapter in deep-sea archaeology in China.
This is an important moment in the archaeological history of China — — On the morning of October 23, 2022, the "Deep Sea Warrior" was carrying out its 500th dive mission. In the cab of the mother ship, the underwater acoustic communication system suddenly heard the submarine’s exclamation from the bottom of the sea: "Found a large pottery pot!" "Tens of thousands!"
Nearly seven months later, the people’s governments of National Cultural Heritage Administration and Hainan Province announced that two Ming Dynasty shipwrecks were found in the South China Sea, which were named as the No.1 Shipwreck on the Northwest Slope of the South China Sea and the No.2 Shipwreck on the Northwest Slope of the South China Sea. They were relatively well preserved and had a clear age. Among them, the cultural relics of the No.1 shipwreck are mainly ceramics, with a scattered range of tens of thousands of square meters, and the estimated number exceeds 100,000 pieces; A large number of logs were found in the No.2 shipwreck.
Yan Yalin, director of the Department of Archaeology of National Cultural Heritage Administration, said: "This major discovery has proved the historical facts of China ancestors’ development, utilization and travel to and from the South China Sea, and has made a breakthrough contribution to China’s marine history, ceramic history, overseas trade history and the study of the Maritime Silk Road."
With the approval of National Cultural Heritage Administration, a deep-sea archaeological team was formed by National Cultural Heritage Administration Archaeological Research Center, Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering of China Academy of Sciences and Nanhai Museum of China (Hainan) to conduct archaeological investigation in three stages. The underwater permanent surveying and mapping base point laid in the southwest corner of the core accumulation area of the No.1 shipwreck has become the benchmark for archaeological record excavation.
This survey is fascinating — — Take a manned submersible, go down to the in-depth investigation, recording and research sites that conventional diving can’t reach, extract cultural relics and samples, and witness the mountains of ceramics … … Deep-sea shipwrecks provide archaeologists with an extremely rare opportunity.
Behind this survey is standardization and meticulousness — — Where to clean the cultural relics, how to transport them, who will take care of them, which type of camera is suitable for recording when diving, whether there are enough hard disks for data storage and backup, the format of the team members’ work diaries, and even how to number the cultural relics and samples … … Every detail should be carefully discussed and finalized.
Technology and archaeology work closely together.
On deck, submersible preparation, A-frame test, boat deployment, cable hanging and cable unwinding … … The "Deep Sea Warrior" is ready to go, and the work of all departments is interlocking, just like the gears that have been carefully designed. About 30 members of the deep-sea archaeological team participated in the investigation at this stage, coming from the fields of archaeology, cultural relics protection, geophysical exploration, marine geology, marine biology, machinery and electronics, etc. They were divided into 6 groups to complete the investigation task. The team members of the six groups work together, which is a vivid portrayal of science and technology working side by side with archaeology.
There are many challenges. At the depth of 1500 meters, any seemingly simple work will become extremely difficult. For example, where is the best place to extract cultural relics from the No.1 sunken ship, where the cultural relics are scattered to tens of thousands of square meters? If it is extracted in the scattered area of cultural relics, some historical information that can study the sinking process of sunken ships will be lost.
If it is extracted in the core accumulation area of cultural relics, the "Deep Sea Warrior" can only hover over the accumulation area of cultural relics, too far for the manipulator to reach, and too close may affect the safety of cultural relics. If the extraction process causes the destruction of cultural relics accumulation, the consequences will be unimaginable. There is no ready-made answer, only constant testing and careful exploration.
On June 2, the "Deep Sea Warrior" successfully extracted two logs at the No.2 shipwreck site; On June 4th, with the help of a new flexible manipulator, the "Deep Sea Warrior" successfully extracted a number of cultural relics such as blue-and-white Eight Immortals pattern jar, blue-and-white unicorn pattern plate, white glaze cover bowl and blue glaze cover jar at the No.1 shipwreck site. On June 8, after many previous efforts, all the long baseline beacons were put into water and calibrated at night, ready to be put into use … …
As night fell, the team members who had finished their day’s task looked up and sky full of stars shone in the sky. Once upon a time, our ancestors sailed under the same starlight and wrote a historical chapter of the Maritime Silk Road. Those feats of crossing mountains and seas have long been deeply engraved into the historical memory of the Chinese nation.