Medieval Chinese shipwreck raised

Chinese archaeologists have raised a merchant ship which sank in the South China Sea 800 years ago while transporting a cargo of precious porcelain.

The Nanhai 1 treasury ship, built during the Song dynasty which ruled China from 960-1279, is believed to contain one of the biggest discoveries of Chinese artefacts from that period. . .

As many as 6,000 artefacts have already been retrieved from the 13th Century vessel, mostly bluish white porcelain, as well as personal items from crew members, including gold belt buckles and silver rings.

A further 70,000 artefacts are believed to be still on board, many still in their original packing cases.

As the article goes on to note, this is not the first huge haul of Chinese artifacts from the seabed:

In the mid-1980s a number of ships, containing enormous hoards of Chinese porcelain, gold and silver, were found by foreign treasure hunters.

Their valuable cargoes were sold at auction houses in the West. At the time, China was too poor to bid for the artefacts.

The loss of such an important part of its history spurred the government into action.

Nanhai 1 will be the first major project to be undertaken by Chinese underwater archaeologists.

The scale of the project is truly staggering. Normally, underwater wrecks are excavated in place. Here, the wreck site appears to have been lifted from the seabed en bloc, to be brought to a new, specially-built museum with a tank in which the wreck site will be stored and displayed while being excavated at leisure. From the BBC.

Posted by David on December 21, 2007 3:19 PM