Major achievements have been made in the in-depth joint scientific expedition in the South China Sea

Recently, the reporter learned from the Institute of Deep Sea Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that the joint voyage consisting of the " Exploration No. 1, " and "Exploration No. 2" scientific research ships achieved significant results in the northern part of the South China Sea. A total of 66 cultural relics specimens were found. According to

researchers, this scientific expedition found 1 underwater cultural relic point, 3 ship hulls and multiple single glaze jars on the seabed at a depth of 2000-3000 meters. Breaking the 1000m in 2018 for the first time. It is understood that the route connecting the southern coast of China and the Paracel Islands spans the continental shelf, the continental slope and the southern ocean basin, and the water depth varies from less than 100 meters to 3,000 meters. The "Striver" manned submersible works together with equipment such as cableless autonomous submersibles.

Chen Chuanxu, associate researcher of , Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences: The deep-sea archaeological discovery of benefited from the introduction of unmanned deep diving technology and the combined application of manned and unmanned deep diving. We first use acoustic deep drag to conduct a large-scale search, which can search about 100 square kilometers every day, and can find objects in the size of meters. Then, use AUV (wireless autonomous underwater vehicle) to continuously take photos of the area where the suspected point is located. If a sunken ship or suspicious cultural relics are found in the photos, a manned deep dive will be arranged for underwater verification and confirmation and the extraction of cultural relics. High-tech collaborative operations such as

involve more than ten domestic navigating units, expanding the detection and operation capabilities of maritime scientific research and greatly improving efficiency. For these relics, researchers carried out image data extraction, 3D laser scanning, environmental and hull sediment and wood sample collection, etc., and extracted 66 cultural relics such as water pottery, porcelain, purple sand , copper coins, ship board .

Deng Qijiang, deputy director of the Institute of Underwater Archaeology of the Archaeological Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage: This investigation has a certain understanding of the distribution law and dynamic changes of the preservation status of deep-sea underwater cultural relics, especially shipwrecks, and has explored a set of The complete workflow of deep-sea archaeological investigation has accumulated experience for the search and discovery of deep-sea underwater cultural relics in the future, and also laid a solid foundation for the in-depth development of deep-sea archaeological work in the future.

The follow-up sailing team will conduct further in-depth research on the age and origin of the hull by comprehensively applying environmental, geological, archaeological and other multidisciplinary analysis methods.

Source: CCTV News