(East-West Question) Cui Yong: Why is China's "South China Sea I" called an unprecedented example of underwater archaeology?

  China News Agency, Guangzhou, January 22, Question: Cui Yong: Why is China's "Nanhai No. 1" called an unprecedented example of underwater archaeology?

  China News Agency reporter Sun Qiuxia

  The ancient shipwreck of the Southern Song Dynasty discovered at the "Nanhai No. 1" site is the ocean-going trade merchant ship with the most cultural relics and the most complete preservation ever discovered in China, with a history of more than 800 years.

The shipwreck was first discovered in 1987, and it took more than 30 years to complete the archaeological excavation.

  The successful case of the overall salvage of "Nanhai No. 1" has witnessed the development process of China's underwater archaeology from scratch to the world's leading.

At present, "Nanhai No. 1" has been promoted to the world as a classic case recommended by UNESCO and has become the pride of China's underwater archaeology community.

  What are the stories behind the excavation and protection of "Nanhai I"?

What are the lessons for the world's underwater archaeology?

Cui Yong, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the first batch of underwater archaeologists in China, and the leader of the "Nanhai No. 1" archaeological excavation recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "Dongxiwen" to give an in-depth interpretation.

The scene of the "Nanhai No. 1" emerging from the water, taken in 2007.

Photo courtesy of the interviewee

The following is a summary of the interview transcript:

China News Service: In 1987, when a British marine exploration and salvage company was searching for the "Rheinburgh" in the South China Sea, it accidentally discovered a Chinese shipwreck, the "South China Sea I".

Why is this wreck the origin of China's underwater archaeology work?

Cui Yong:

Before the establishment of the British Maritime Expedition and Salvage Company, Mike Hatcher, a Western pirate salvage, salvaged a sunken ship named "Godmarson" in the South China Sea, which contained many blue and white porcelains from the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. wares, which he put up for public auction.

At that time, the Palace Museum sent two experts with 30,000 US dollars to participate in the auction, but they did not even have a chance to raise the placard.

The whole auction process stimulated the Chinese archaeological community and attracted national attention, making China determined to establish its own underwater archaeological institution.

  In 1987, the National Museum of China established the Underwater Archaeology Research Center.

Just at this point, the British Maritime Expedition and Rescue Company and the then Guangzhou Salvage Bureau found a sunken ship, grabbed a bucket and grabbed 247 items, including gold necklaces and silver ingots. The list provided by the salvage company to the Guangzhou Salvage Bureau was inconsistent. At that time, the Chinese person in charge of the ship was more sensitive, pointing out that this was not the "Rheinburg" they were looking for, and promptly stopped the continued use of grabs to retrieve objects.

This saved China a national treasure-class wreck, the "Nanhai No. 1".

Therefore, the ship also became the origin of underwater archaeological work in China.

The scene of the "Nanhai No. 1" emerging from the water, taken in 2007.

Photo courtesy of the interviewee

China News Service: After the discovery of the "Nanhai No. 1", what plans and arrangements have China made for underwater archaeology?

Cui Yong:

At that time, the state adopted two methods of “sending out” and “inviting in”, and successively sent young scholars from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the National Museum to the Netherlands and Japan to study underwater archaeology. At the same time, Japanese professors of underwater archaeology also went to China. teach.

In 1989, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the National Museum and the University of Adelaide in Australia jointly organized the first underwater archaeology training course in China. 11 people from all over the country were selected to participate in the training, and I also participated in it.

After training, we have mastered basic underwater archaeological knowledge and techniques.

In 1990, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage issued a certificate of completion, making us the first batch of certified personnel of the Chinese Underwater Archaeology Team.

  During this period, many foreign salvage companies hoped to cooperate with China to salvage the "Nanhai No. 1".

In November 1989, China and Japan formed a joint investigation team to conduct a comprehensive survey of the "Nanhai I".

During this time, the sea conditions were very poor, and it cost 270,000 yuan in three days.

Since the conditions for excavating the "Nanhai I" are not mature enough, we temporarily put it on hold and start with a small project.

In 1991, a sunken ship of the Yuan Dynasty was discovered in Sandaogang, Suizhong, Liaoning Province. We organized a team to investigate there and established a workstation.

Chinese underwater archaeologists have been doing the excavation and investigation of this ship from 1992 to 1997, and have accumulated a lot of underwater archaeological experience.

In 1996, we went to Xisha to do a shipwreck excavation, accumulated experience in ocean-going surveys, and also proved that China's underwater archaeology has gradually matured.

In August 2019, the staff of the "Nanhai No. 1" archaeological team desalinated the effluent cultural relics from the sunken ship.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Jimin

China News Agency reporter: In 2001, the excavation work of "Nanhai No. 1" was resumed. What difficulties did you encounter at that time?

Cui Yong:

It took us nearly 10 years from studying underwater archaeology to re-excavating the "Nanhai I".

At first, we relied on GPS positioning technology to find the exact location of the "Nanhai No. 1". After seven or eight surveys and trial excavations in the following four years, we found that the wreck was well preserved and the cargo on board was abundant.

However, the silt of the "Nanhai No. 1" was very thick, and the sunken ship was buried under the silt.

Due to poor visibility, it is quite difficult to do underwater archaeology in this place.

If only the cultural relics are salvaged, there will be no progress for archaeological research.

Therefore, I propose to salvage the sunken ship with the method of overall extraction.

Wu Jiancheng, an engineer of the Guangzhou Salvage and Salvage Bureau, proposed the method of using a caisson, which can just meet the needs of the overall salvage. The trial excavation work finally has a breakthrough.

  If this method was not adopted at the time, a large amount of information could be lost.

This wreck has no strength, and the overall salvage can play a very good role in protecting the wreck hull.

The actual implementation found that the most difficult thing is to hoist the caisson. The caisson is 33 meters long, 14 meters wide, and weighs more than 500 tons. It is very difficult to locate underwater, and it is almost impossible to adjust the position after putting it down, so it must be accurately placed at one time. , and finally succeeded at once.

In order to allow the salvaged shipwrecks to have a place to store, the Guangdong Maritime Silk Road Museum was built while the "Nanhai No. 1" was salvaged as a whole.

In 2007, the caisson was successfully salvaged from the water and transported into the museum.

The "Nanhai No. 1" housed in the Guangdong Maritime Silk Road Museum, taken in August 2019.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Jimin

China News Agency reporter: It is understood that you and your team's laboratory can collect archaeological data accurate to the millimeter. Relying on this technology, what new discoveries have you made?

Is this technology world leading?

Cui Yong:

We put the "Nanhai No. 1" into the "Crystal Palace" of the Guangdong Maritime Silk Road Museum to conduct archaeological excavations in the public eye.

In addition, the largest archaeological laboratory excavation platform in China has been built, and the most advanced surveying and mapping methods such as laser 3D scanning and close-up photogrammetry are used to accurately collect the archaeological data to the millimeter and preserve the information to the greatest extent.

In the absence of technical bottlenecks, we want to do everything to the extreme. The excavation of the "Nanhai No. 1" is more precise than most land archaeology. There is no country in the world that can achieve accurate underwater archaeology. mm measurement.

  At present, the cultural relics of "Nanhai No. 1" have been cleaned up, about 180,000 sets, including gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, ceramics, lacquerware, glassware, etc.

In addition to tombs, terrestrial archaeology involves the superimposition of strata of different ages, reflecting the vertical axis of time.

And through the "Nanhai No. 1", you can see the cross-section of the life of the Song Dynasty in the same period, reflecting the horizontal axis of time.

This shipwreck is equivalent to perfecting the archaeological coordinates.

  The mud in one of the cabins of "Nanhai No. 1" has no ceramics. After testing the soil, silk protein was found, which means that "Nanhai No. 1" also transported silk, but the amount may not be large.

Food is even richer. "Nanhai No. 1" found a large number of jars filled with wine, as well as salted duck eggs, sheep's heads, nuts, bayberry and rice, which may not be preserved if they are excavated underwater.

In addition, through the convergence of various information, the precise age of the ship has been determined, and it sank roughly around the tenth year of Chunxi in the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty, that is, around 1183 AD.

From an archaeological point of view, to determine the approximate age of a cultural relic, a reference object is needed, so it is very difficult to be accurate to a specific year.

The cultural relics on the "Nanhai No. 1" continue to establish chronological standards, and the archaeological timeline has come out.

"Nanhai No. 1" is taking a photo.

Photo courtesy of the interviewee

China News Agency reporter: What is the significance of the excavation and protection of "Nanhai No. 1" to the world's underwater archaeology?

Cui Yong:

"Nanhai I" is the world leader in this type of wreck excavation.

There are other types of shipwrecks in the world. For example, France has done some deep-sea archaeology, and China has just set foot in the deep sea of ​​1,000 meters.

However, the "Nanhai No. 1" is the world's first and only shipwreck that can be salvaged and excavated accurately within 30 meters of the water.

  The overall salvage method of the "Nanhai No. 1" is difficult to imitate.

Because the environments of underwater archaeology and terrestrial archaeology are very different, not every site can use the same model.

But this model can be replicated as long as the conditions are right. For example, the thickness of the silt must ensure that the caisson can be pressed down.

Furthermore, it is an obvious contradiction that the more difficult to excavate ships are better preserved, and the easier to excavate ships are less well preserved.

There is no case of overall salvage in foreign underwater archaeology, and it may also be related to the national system. China can concentrate on major affairs, and foreign countries are not easy to replicate in terms of system.

  “南海Ⅰ号”的发掘和保护,更多是水下文化遗产保护理念创新。联合国教科文组织将“南海Ⅰ号”作为经典案例进行宣传,主要是推广中国的一种理念和意识。只要理念和意识达到一定高度,剩下的就是技术和经济支撑了。(完)

受访者简介:

广东省文物考古研究院副院长崔勇。中新社记者 陈骥旻 摄

  崔勇,广东省文物考古研究院副院长,中国第一批水下考古队员,“南海Ⅰ号”考古发掘领队。1987年参与接收“南海Ⅰ号”文物,见证中国水下考古从起步、发展、成熟到辉煌的全过程;2010年作为“南澳Ⅰ号”水下考古队领队,组织的“南澳Ⅰ号”水下考古发掘被国家水下文化遗产保护中心列为2010年“一号工程”。