Ming Dynasty red and green bowls, blue and white Eight Immortals jars, and enamel jars, these cultural relics all come from shipwrecks on the bottom of the South China Sea at a depth of about 1,500 meters. Starting in 2023, the China Underwater Joint Archaeological Team will conduct three consecutive archaeological surveys on two shipwrecks on the northwest slope of the South China Sea. So far, more than 900 cultural relics have been salvaged, and each one is stunning. During the National Day, these cultural relics from the South China Sea were exhibited for the first time. So how were these treasures that had been sleeping for many years retrieved from such deep waters? How to protect it after getting out of the water?
During this National Day holiday, long queues formed every day in front of the China (Hainan) South China Sea Museum in Tanmen Town, Qionghai City. "Treasure hunting" at the South China Sea Museum in China (Hainan) has become the choice of many tourists. On September 27, 2024, just before the National Day, a special exhibition of the archaeological results of the Deep Blue Treasure-No. 1 and 2 shipwrecks on the northwest slope of the South China Sea opened. This is the best gift that Chinese archaeologists can give to the 75th birthday of the Republic. These cultural relics out of the water are historical witnesses of the ancient Maritime Silk Road’s promotion of exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.
Deng Qijiang, Director of the Underwater Archeology Institute of the Archaeological Research Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage:
These underwater cultural relics play a very important role in proving the historical facts that our country was the first to discover, utilize, and develop the South China Sea. It is necessary to give full play to the value and role of these South China Sea cultural relics in enriching the "Belt and Road" initiative and historical and cultural connotations.
In June 2024, at the end of the third deep-sea archeology on the northwest slope of the South China Sea, the China (Hainan) South China Sea Museum decided to make these cultural relics available to the public as soon as possible. The exhibition was named "Deep Blue Treasures".
Xin Lixue, Director of the South China Sea Museum of China (Hainan):
We have set ourselves to have a deep-sea archeology exhibition before October 1 this year, and a special exhibition of the No. 1 and 2 shipwrecks on the Northwest Continent. The time is very tight, and the actual preparation time is only about 4 months. time.
In the underwater archaeological process, after a cultural relic is released from the water, it often needs to go through strict processes such as cleaning, desulfurization, desalination, corrosion inhibition, sealing, analysis, archiving, and academic argumentation. Just after the excavation, it took only four months to display the archaeological results. This is a unique attempt.
In order to achieve this goal, everyone needs to go all out. It’s less than a day before the exhibition opens, and all the exhibits need to be put in place. In an exhibition space of less than 900 square meters, there are more than 400 cultural relics on display. They come from two ancient sunken ships that were hidden in the deep sea and reappeared in the world after sleeping for more than 500 years. The blue and white Eight Immortals figure jar is the most special piece of cultural relics in this exhibition.
Li Jian, a member of the archaeological survey project of the shipwreck site on the northwest slope of the South China Sea:
The blue and white jar is the first cultural relic extracted after our official archaeological excavation.
In 2022, two sunken ships were accidentally discovered during scientific research activities by the Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In May 2023, under the unified deployment 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 South China Sea Museum of China (Hainan) formed a joint archaeological investigation team to conduct an investigation of two sunken ships on the northwest slope of the South China Sea. Archaeological investigation. This is an important step for China’s underwater archeology to move from offshore waters to deep seas. Before 2018, China’s underwater archaeological projects were basically limited to offshore and shallow seas.
Until December 1, 2017, China's independently developed "Deep Sea Warrior" manned submersible was born. After eight years of research, the R&D team has made breakthroughs in a series of key technologies such as the design and manufacturing of titanium alloy manned cabins, large-depth buoyancy materials, and low-noise deep-sea thrusters. This important weapon of a great power has become an important milestone in my country's deep-sea equipment technology, and also made it possible for China's underwater archeology to move to the deep sea.
Song Jianzhong, the person in charge of the archaeological survey of the shipwreck site on the northwest slope of the South China Sea:
Its diving depth can reach 4,500 meters, which basically meets all areas of the South China Sea. It is the most conventional, and ours is only about 1,500 meters. For the "Deep Sea Warrior" No problem.
On May 23, 2023, operated by two senior submersibles, Song Jianzhong took the "Deep Sea Warrior" and arrived at the No. 1 sunken site for the first time. Through the images transmitted back to the research ship by the "Deep Sea Warrior", all the archaeological team members witnessed this shocking scene.
Zhang Ninghao, deputy team leader of the archaeological survey project of the shipwreck site on the northwest slope of the South China Sea:
It is an incredible state. It feels unimaginable. This ship is not only a discovery of China's underwater archaeology, but also a major world-class discovery, because The size of this ship, the number of cultural relics and the significance it represents are unmatched by any other shipwreck.
According to conservative estimates by archaeologists, the number of these sleeping underwater treasures is no less than 100,000. Inside the submersible, archaeologists identify the cultural relics that need to be extracted. Outside the submersible, there are two manipulators connected to the ends of the robotic arms. One is made of metal, and the other is specially covered with soft rubber for this task. Hold" cultural relics to avoid direct metal contact with the surface of the cultural relics. The blue and white Eight Immortals figure jar was the first cultural relic to be extracted.
Li Jian, a member of the archaeological survey project of the shipwreck site on the northwest slope of the South China Sea:
When I first saw this piece of porcelain on the seabed, the light on the seabed made the whole thing sparkle and dazzling.
As an underwater archaeological team member, Li Jian was fortunate enough to witness the moment when this cultural relic came out of the water.
Li Jian, a member of the archaeological survey project of the shipwreck site on the northwest slope of the South China Sea:
is very exciting to me. From its discovery to its extraction to its protection and restoration, including its exhibition, I participated in the whole process. I think this process is very exciting. happiness.
Located 12 nautical miles away from the No. 1 shipwreck site, the No. 2 shipwreck site consists of a core area and a scattered area. Among them, the core area is about 21 meters long from north to south and about 8 meters wide from east to west. The relics are mainly logs. According to the identification of the Timber Institute of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, these logs are ebony produced in Southeast Asia.
Song Jianzhong, the person in charge of the archaeological survey of the shipwreck site on the northwest slope of the South China Sea:
Ship No. 1 went out for our porcelain, and Ship No. 2 brought back ebony from Southeast Asia. This exactly reflects the extent of two-way trade on the Maritime Silk Road and is also evidence of two-way trade. .
Deep sea archeology deciphers the history of the submerged. More than 500 years ago, two large ships sailed near the northwest slope of the South China Sea and sank at a depth of 1,500 meters. Over the past 500 years, there have been no traces of the remains of the victims and even organic matter such as ship planks, leaving only the ship full of cultural relics for future generations to review.
So far, a total of 928 cultural relics have been recovered from the shipwreck No. 1 and 2 on the northwest slope of the South China Sea. The Fahua pots of the Ming Dynasty are among them “responsible for their appearance”.
Li Jian, a member of the archaeological investigation project of the shipwreck site on the northwest slope of the South China Sea:
This is a cultural relic with very high ornamental value. At the same time, it also shows the peak of enamel production technology in the mid-Ming Dynasty.
The enamel Huacai craft began in the Yuan Dynasty and flourished in the mid-Ming Dynasty. Due to the gradual decline of the craft, the number of surviving enamel crafts is very rare. This special exhibition of "Dark Blue Treasures" will display 13 of the 14 pieces of enamelware produced by water. What surprised the archaeologists even more was that after the water was released, there were layers of white glazed cups inside the jar.
Li Jian, a member of the archaeological survey project of the shipwreck site on the northwest slope of the South China Sea:
We performed a CT scan on it and saw clearly the details of the layered arrangement of the small cups inside, and then we cleaned out the small cups inside.
During the cleaning process, he unexpectedly uncovered the biggest mystery of this deep-sea archeology. From the first cultural relic emerging from the water, experts basically judged that its age should be the mid-Ming Dynasty. However, since the cultural relics found in the water do not have dates, they cannot be accurately dated. Until during the cleaning process, this red and green bowl was discovered from the belly of a porcelain jar. The inner bottom of the bowl is painted with a red and green painting of a drunken immortal, and the outer belly is painted with a red and green pattern of a baby playing. The most important thing is the words "Made in the Year of Bingyin" written in red double boxes on the outer bottom of the bowl. It is an important tool for unraveling the sunken ship. Chronological mystery provides key clues.This piece of water-exposed porcelain is the only cultural relic with a year mark, confirming that the No. 1 shipwreck belongs to the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty.
has less than 4 months left to prepare for the exhibition. However, the cleaning and protection work of some cultural relics that have just been released must be done step by step.
Li Jian, a member of the archaeological survey project of the shipwreck site on the northwest slope of the South China Sea:
The most important thing here is cleaning and desalination, because ceramics effluent from the ocean have been soaked in seawater for a long time. If desalination is not carried out as soon as possible when they first come out of the water, the ceramic pores will The chloride ions inside will continue to crystallize and dissolve as the temperature and humidity change, and crystallize again, which will break the glaze, causing the glaze to fall off, and even the carcass to collapse.
This conservation process, which should have been completed in the laboratory, has become the biggest feature of the "Dark Blue Treasures" special exhibition. In the exhibition hall, two specially designed desalination tanks become windows for the audience to observe the conservation work of cultural relics.
Xin Lixue, Director of the South China Sea Museum in China (Hainan):
We also brought some of the cultural relics under protection to the site, and conducted desalination displays on site, including some restoration displays, so that everyone can fully understand the stories behind the cultural relics and the experience of getting cultural relics out of the water. What process does it take to enter the exhibition hall?
As the archaeological work on the No. 1 and 2 shipwrecks on the northwest slope of the South China Sea is still in progress, there will be follow-up work such as excavation, investigation, and cultural relic restoration. The format of this exhibition will be dynamically updated. Based on the new results of deep-sea archaeology, the content and cultural relics on display will be updated from time to time. The "Dark Blue Treasures" special exhibition not only displays a series of eye-catching deep-sea archaeological discoveries, but also opens a window into the depths of history and explores the mutual learning of human civilization.
comes from scratch, from shallow sea to deep sea. After more than 30 years of arduous exploration, China's underwater archeology today has entered the international advanced ranks. From the process of the emergence of this batch of cultural relics, we can see that underwater archeology not only tests the skills of archaeologists, but also tests the scientific and technological strength of a country. With the continued development of underwater archeology on the South China Sea islands, important shipwreck sites such as "Huaguang Reef No. 1" and "Coral Island No. 1" as well as this time the shipwrecks on the northwest slope of the South China Sea have been excavated one after another, and batches of "deep blue treasures" have surfaced. , and also proved the prosperity of the ancient Maritime Silk Road and the long history of exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations.
Editor丨Qu Guixiang Li Bingqi Fan Shanshan
Videography丨Wei An Wang Bofeng
Editing丨Zhao Yunlong
Planning丨Yu Renshan
