After more than 30 years of archaeology, why did Nanhai No.1, a sunken ship in the Song Dynasty, be cleared up?

The discovery of Nanhai No.1 was actually a beautiful accident. As early as June, 65438+August, 0987, Guangzhou Salvage Bureau directly under the Ministry of Communications of China and British Ocean Exploration Company accidentally salvaged more than 200 precious cultural relics such as gold, silver, tin and ceramics from an ancient shipwreck in Yangjiang, Guangdong.

After identification, porcelain is mainly produced in Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other places in China. One of the gold-plated belts has never been unearthed in China, and it is suspected to be a foreign item. This unexpected discovery immediately attracted the attention of the archaeological community. According to the judgment of Chinese archaeologists, this sunken ship is most likely related to the Maritime Silk Road. I intended to salvage foreign sunken ships, but I accidentally harvested ancient sunken ships in the Song Dynasty. It can be seen that the discovery of the "Nanhai No.1" shipwreck was purely accidental.

"Nanhai No.1" took 20 years from accidental discovery to salvage. These 20 years are also the process from the beginning to the development of underwater archaeology in China. Starting from Nanhai No.1, China's underwater archaeology has gradually developed from scratch to be able to complete the most difficult underwater archaeological project in the world by itself. Huang Tiejian proudly said, "Nanhai No.1 is a milestone of underwater archaeology in China".

It is understood that the excavation of Nanhai No.1 is divided into four stages. The first stage is the excavation and preliminary preparation of surface silt that just ended in the first half of this year; The second stage is the extraction and excavation of cultural relics and the support in the cabin; The third stage is the excavation and support of mud outside the ship; The last stage is the separation and overall display of the ship and the box. The preliminary preparation and excavation of the upper silt came to an end in the first half of this year, and it will enter the second stage of cultural relics extraction and excavation in the cabin in the middle and late June of 65438+ 10 this year.