China News Agency, Shanghai, November 26th, title: The century-old ship "crossed" and returned
Author Wang Ji
The No. 2 ancient ship at the mouth of the Yangtze River, which has been sleeping for more than 150 years, "settles down" on the banks of the Huangpu River.
On November 25, the ancient ship entered the No. 1 dock at the former site of the Shanghai Shipyard smoothly in the arms of the special salvage engineering ship "Fenli Lun".
At this moment, Zhai Yang, deputy director of the Shanghai Cultural Relics Protection Research Center, couldn't help feeling, "The movable ancient ship cultural relics and the immovable Shanghai shipyard industrial relics complement each other, and it really feels like going home."
After several years, the century-old ship finally "returned home" safely under the "careful care" of archaeologists.
What kind of story will it tell the world after returning from "time travel"?
Underwater archeology "black technology"
The "Jinghai" series of unmanned boats can obtain valuable data on the sunken ship and the surrounding environment from multiple angles; the underwater camera device suitable for muddy water environments combined with intelligent image enhancement technology in muddy waters allows researchers to see part of the true face of the sunken ship ; Efficiently collect the "wave energy" of ocean currents on the seabed to charge underwater equipment for long-term monitoring of cultural relics... In the Yangtze River Estuary, where the visibility of the river and the sea meets is almost zero, scientists have given full play to their respective advantages and interdisciplinary "groups". Wisdom plans navigation charts for the safe "homecoming" of century-old ships.
Peng Yan, executive dean of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence of Shanghai University and dean of the Institute of Unmanned Boat Engineering of Shanghai University, said in an interview with a reporter from China News Agency that ancient sunken ships are mostly in rapids, low-visibility shoals, and complex waters with hidden reefs. Equipped with a variety of sonar equipment for underwater archaeological exploration, compared with manned survey ships, it has many advantages such as shallow draft, flexible maneuvering, high operating efficiency, and unlimited operating time.
Especially in deep waters, divers cannot directly carry out underwater archaeological operations. At this time, the underwater archaeological mode combined with surface scanning unmanned boats and underwater robots can form a three-dimensional intelligent cultural relic detection method and open up new ideas for underwater archaeology. .
"When the latest artificial intelligence technology collides with the oldest archaeological discipline, sparks fly, and everything is possible." Peng Yan revealed that the Jinghai team of Shanghai University is speeding up the construction of an artificial intelligence knowledge map of underwater archaeology, which will store information related to Chinese history, Massive big data related to humanities, geography, ocean and cultural relics.
"Artificial intelligence can analyze and integrate various images, texts, videos, and texts by itself, and sort out various clues for underwater archaeological excavations like Sherlock Holmes."
Safely Deciphering the 'Time Capsule'
This time, along with the No. 2 ancient ship "cracking the waves", there are also a large number of exquisite cultural relics, showing vivid pictures of merchant ships sailing and life on board in the late Qing Dynasty in China.
As the dean of the Institute of Basic Science of Cultural Heritage Protection of Shanghai University, Huang Jizhong is very concerned about the preservation of the ancient ship hull itself and the cultural relics on board. The drastic changes in temperature and humidity, and how to make them safely survive the drastic changes in the environment are the most concerned issues for cultural relics protectors."
Zhai Yang witnessed the "homecoming" journey of the No. 2 ancient ship at the mouth of the Yangtze River along the way.
According to him, in the morning of the second day after the ancient ship came out of the water, the archaeological staff used water-retaining materials to stick all the exposed hulls.
"We can see that the masts and hulls of ancient ships are now covered with protective covers, which can play a role in shading and moisturizing."
After docking and taking a seat, a protection cabin will be built above the ancient ship to keep moisture and control temperature; after the protection cabin, the construction of a temporary archaeological greenhouse will be started, and the monitoring, control and archaeological excavation equipment will be more perfect.
"The most important task at this stage is to ensure the stability and safety of the ancient ship after it enters its 'new home', to detect and monitor its environment, temperature, humidity, microorganisms, etc., and to give it a suitable cultural relic Preserve the environment. After the ancient ships gradually adapt to the new environment and the indicators are stable, we can start the formal archaeological excavation.” Zhai Yang said.
"It must be a long process to carry out the scientific protection of such a large hull and the hundreds of thousands of cultural relics it carries." Huang Jizhong believes that in addition to using archaeological research methods to reveal the historical, artistic and scientific value of ancient shipwrecks and water relics In addition, how to apply more advanced technological means to reveal the value behind the cultural relics is also worth looking forward to.
"The application of hyperspectral, infrared imaging, and X-ray technologies seems to give archaeologists a pair of eyes that can see through cultural relics, revealing richer cultural connotations behind the cultural relics through hidden information."
The "space-time coordinates" of a century-old ship
The Yangtze River Mouth No. 2 ancient ship is the largest and best-preserved ancient wooden sailing ship discovered by underwater archeology in China. It is like a "time capsule" carrying rich historical information.
Judging from the current survey situation, the ancient ship may be a "shachuan", which was a typical ship type in Shanghai port in the late Qing Dynasty and an important part of the Shanghai city logo.
The discovery of the No. 2 ancient ship at the mouth of the Yangtze River confirms that Shanghai is a port city with a long history, and it is also a precious historical witness of modern Shanghai as a trade and shipping center in East Asia and even the world.
Ding Jianxiang, director of the Maritime Archeology Research Center of Shanghai University, pointed out that in the process of Shanghai's development, especially in the process of urbanization, sand ships played a leading role.
"After the opening of Shanghai, in the era represented by the No. 2 ancient ship at the mouth of the Yangtze River, although it was severely squeezed by the foreign-funded shipping industry, the sand ship industry in Shanghai and its surrounding areas still carried out tenacious resistance and maintained a considerable trade scale. It also lasted for quite a long time, and it was not until the early 20th century that it was considered to be in overall decline."
"At this time, important changes are also taking place in Jiangnan in the traditional sense. Generally speaking, Shanghai's position in Jiangnan is becoming more and more prominent. For Shanghai, the value and significance of the No. It can be understood from the space-time coordinates." Ding Jianxiang said.
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