Do fundo do mar... Sea bottom
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Archaeologists Discover Precious Chinese Antiques On Sunken Ship
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AHN
By Shaveta Bansal
May 09, 2007
Haikou, China - Archaeologists in China on Tuesday finished the excavation of a sunken 13th-century ship and recovered over 10,000 pieces of antique Chinese pottery and porcelain. The 55-day salvage plan started this year, more than a decade after a group of Chinese fishermen stumbled upon the shipwreck 10 feet below the surface of the water near Huaguang Reef.
"What we found from the shipwreck on Huaguang Reef No.1 are pearls of the ancient Silk Road on the sea," Zhang Wei, the lead archaeologist in the excavation mission, told the Xinhua new agency.
"It is first time we have found such precious antiques in the high seas," he said.
Experts believe the wooden merchant vessel belonged to the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) in the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea, and the discovery provides important evidence that there was an established trade route between China and the rest of the world even at that time.
"The fragments serve as a testimony that Chinese people lived and traded around the Xisha Islands during the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) Dynasties," Zhang said.
According to Zhang, the ship had been subjected to damage by looters but its lower part is in good shape.
Scientists believe the ship might have set sail from present-day Fujian province along China's southeastern coast, but the destination of the ill-fated vessel remains unclear.
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www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
AHN
By Shaveta Bansal
May 09, 2007
Haikou, China - Archaeologists in China on Tuesday finished the excavation of a sunken 13th-century ship and recovered over 10,000 pieces of antique Chinese pottery and porcelain. The 55-day salvage plan started this year, more than a decade after a group of Chinese fishermen stumbled upon the shipwreck 10 feet below the surface of the water near Huaguang Reef.
"What we found from the shipwreck on Huaguang Reef No.1 are pearls of the ancient Silk Road on the sea," Zhang Wei, the lead archaeologist in the excavation mission, told the Xinhua new agency.
"It is first time we have found such precious antiques in the high seas," he said.
Experts believe the wooden merchant vessel belonged to the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) in the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea, and the discovery provides important evidence that there was an established trade route between China and the rest of the world even at that time.
"The fragments serve as a testimony that Chinese people lived and traded around the Xisha Islands during the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) Dynasties," Zhang said.
According to Zhang, the ship had been subjected to damage by looters but its lower part is in good shape.
Scientists believe the ship might have set sail from present-day Fujian province along China's southeastern coast, but the destination of the ill-fated vessel remains unclear.
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www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
