Rejuvenation of Cultural Relics Coming Out of the Water of the Jia Wu Shipwreck "Jingyuan" This year, the archaeology of the "Laiyuan" ship was launched

Jinan, 3 Mar (ZXS) -- Topic: Rejuvenation of Cultural Relics Coming Out of the Water of the Jia Noon Shipwreck This year, the archaeology of the "Laiyuan" ship was launched

China News Agency reporter Zhao Xiao

Pipes with fish prints, patterned gold buttons, 48 cm long boat components... The reporter walked into the cultural relics protection and utilization laboratory of the Shandong Underwater Archaeology Research Center on the 17th, and the laboratory leader Lan Dong's workbench neatly placed dozens of cultural relics from the "Jingyuan" ship, and he was burying his head in using a carving knife to remove rust on the surface of a ship component.

From August to late October 2022, the Shandong Underwater Archaeology Research Center, together with the Archaeological Research Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China and the local cultural museum institution of Weihai City, carried out an underwater archaeological survey of the "Jingyuan" ship site. The excavation determined the location of the boiler compartment, bow ammunition compartment and stern ammunition compartment of the wreck, basically found out the overall situation of the wreckage of the wreck, and a total of more than 8 cultural relics of various types were released.

"In January this year, I began to devote myself to the restoration of this batch of cultural relics, and 1 or <> pieces have been cleaned up and are being desalimated." Lan Dong told reporters that most of the cultural relics released from the water of the "Jingyuan" ship are metal products, and protective restoration should be carried out through cleaning, rust removal, desalination, corrosion inhibition, sealing treatment and other steps.

Lan Dong said that the desalination process is the most time-consuming, ranging from a few months to a year or more to complete. Metals, especially iron, are chemically active and prone to new rust during desalination, making this job more challenging.

"When this artifact first came out of the water, it had a thick layer of rust attached. After removing the impurities on its surface, I soaked it in distilled water for desalting, but found that new rust was generated, and tried to use virgin pulp paper to adsorb desalination, the effect was not bad, it is basically restored to its original appearance now. Lan Dong pointed to an iron component in the desalination stage.

The reporter saw at the scene that many metal cultural relics regained their luster after restoration, and the engravings and patterns on the surface were clearly visible. "After protection and restoration treatment, these cultural relics can be restored to a stable state, basically meeting the conditions for external exhibition." Lan Dong said.

Wang Zebing, deputy director of the Shandong Underwater Archaeology Research Center, said in an interview with reporters that from 2018 to 2022, the center carried out a series of underwater archaeological investigations and excavations around the topic of the Weihai Bay Jiawu shipwreck, and more than 2000,<> cultural relics have been released from the water, which are in urgent need of protection and restoration. Different from the cultural relics unearthed in field archaeology, the cultural relics found in marine archaeology have been immersed in a high-salt and high-pressure environment for a long time, and the desalination treatment should be carried out as soon as possible after the water is released, and the task of cultural relics protection and restoration is heavy.

At present, part of the cultural relics of the "Jingyuan" ship have been placed in the laboratory of the Shandong Provincial Underwater Archaeology Research Center for protective restoration, and the other part of the large-scale artillery shells have been preserved in the Chinese Sino-Japanese War Museum.

"During the excavation of the site of the 'Jingyuan' ship, we found a Krupp shell with a caliber of 1 mm, which is the largest caliber shell found and salvaged by underwater archaeology so far." Wang Zebing said that the archaeologists also found two complete boxes of 210mm shells and multiple electric fire tubes. According to historical records, only warships such as "Zhiyuan" and "Jingyuan" in the Beiyang Navy were equipped with electronically controlled artillery salvo systems using electric fire tubes.

Wang Zebing said that the cultural relics from the water have restored many details of the war. Archaeologists found a large number of shell casings at the site, indicating that the war was fierce at that time, and the Beiyang Navy carried out a heroic counterattack against the outside world. The unfired shells are generally complete in structure, imported originally, and relatively advanced, which proves from the side that the legend of "shells mixed with sand" is not in line with historical facts.

"This year, we will continue to carry out the underwater archaeological work of the 'Laiyuan' ship, and after completion, we will fully devote ourselves to the protection and restoration of the cultural relics from the Weihai Jiawu shipwreck, and strive to display them to the public as soon as possible, so that the cultural relics can be seen to the public." Wang Zebing said. (End)