[Explanation] In 2014, China's largest port museum, the China Port Museum, and the first national underwater cultural heritage protection base were officially opened in Ningbo, Zhejiang. The precious heritage left over from the ancient sailing trade is gradually wiped away from the dust for thousands of years, and is presented to the public through modern display methods.
Underwater archaeology is a new thing. Underwater archaeology in China started relatively late, beginning in the 1980s. Since there is no major in underwater archaeology, China has successively trained eight batches of underwater archaeologists from land archaeological workers for more than 30 years.
Wang Guangyuan, deputy director of Ningbo Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Jin Tao, head of the Underwater Heritage Center of Ningbo Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, are the fourth and fifth batch of underwater archaeologists, respectively. Recalling how they felt when they first came into contact with underwater archaeology, they couldn't hide their excitement.
[Concurrent] Wang Guangyuan, Deputy Director of Ningbo Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
I have never dived before the training. Although I can swim, I have never dived before. I feel that this thing is indeed very mysterious, and I feel a little excited that this thing is quite fun, including the first time I breathe gas underwater. This feeling is amazing.
[Concurrent] Jin Tao, Head of Underwater Heritage Center, Ningbo Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
If you can really see an underwater shipwreck, it will be quite shocking in your heart, because the visible range under water is still quite small, which is equivalent to only seeing a part of it, unlike on land, which can see all at a glance We can only see a part of it at a certain moment. As our range of activities increases, we can slowly understand the whole picture of the sunken ship and obtain the information in it. This is also a process of exploration.
[Explanation] Compared with land archaeology, underwater archaeology will face a more complicated environment. Both for the safety of archaeological workers and for the protection of cultural relics, many challenges are brought.
[Concurrent] Jin Tao, Head of Underwater Heritage Center, Ningbo Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Because its burial environment is different, there will be some different situations. Specific to the water, because it is basically surrounded by sea or river water, the water cultural relics are all saturated with water and contain a lot of water. Is the most significant difference. In another environment specific to seawater, the impact of marine life on cultural relics may be different from that of land cultural relics. A large number of marine organisms will attach and live on it, and the damage to cultural relics is also relatively serious. Because of the huge volume and serious diseases of the marine outflow hull, it also puts forward higher requirements for our protection technology.
[Explanation] Jin Tao introduced that due to the special geographical location of underwater relics, underwater archaeology staff sometimes need to use boats as their station or nearby deserted islands as their station. The longest has been stationed for more than two months. During underwater operations, archaeologists also face threats such as fishing nets and marine life harmful to humans, and the working environment is relatively harsh.
Nowadays, with the development of the country, new equipment has been continuously put into underwater archaeological work. On January 24, 2014, China’s first archaeological ship “China Archaeology 01”, which was designed and manufactured by China, was successfully launched into the water, adding support to China’s underwater archaeology work. Wang Guangyuan revealed that in the future, he will continue to cooperate with universities and research institutes to develop more equipment for underwater archaeology.
[Concurrent] Wang Guangyuan, Deputy Director of Ningbo Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Because most of the geophysical prospecting equipment we use now is used in marine engineering, it is not aimed at our underwater archaeology. Because the remains we found under underwater archaeology may be very small, compared to their submarine project, it may be a ship, in their opinion, it will be very, very small. Its detection effect may not be good. We are also actively applying for national topics in this area and doing this kind of research. The Underwater Cultural Heritage Protection Center of the National Cultural Heritage Administration is also actively organizing related topics, including now and Shanghai University, as well as some scientific research institutes, and the Shanghai Cultural Relics Protection Center, which is a variety of scientific research institutions across the country, including scientific research universities. All are jointly developing the subject of equipment for our underwater archaeology.
Wang Weichen reports from Ningbo, Zhejiang
Editor in charge: 【Luo Pan】