On November 21, the largest wooden shipwreck discovered by underwater archeology in my country so far-the ancient ship Changjiangkou No. 2 was successfully salvaged in the waters of the Yangtze River estuary. According to experts, the Yangtze River Mouth No. 2 ancient ship “carries” important historical materials such as the history of modern Chinese economy and trade, the history of shipping on the golden waterway of the Yangtze River, and the modern Maritime Silk Road. .
The research and in-depth excavation of the history of the ancient Chinese “Maritime Silk Road” and maritime trade, international exchanges, etc., requires the study of a large number of documents and materials, and more importantly, examples of underwater cultural relics. The underwater archaeological work on these ancient shipwrecks is not open. In addition to the newly salvaged ancient ship Changjiangkou No. 2, in recent years, my country has carried out a series of underwater archaeological work on ancient shipwrecks such as the Song Dynasty ship in Houzhu Port of Quanzhou Bay, Nanhai No. 1, Huaguangjiao No. 1, and Nan’ao No. 1. .
Constrained by the unpredictable changes in waters, underwater archeology is a dangerous and technological work. “The water surface is calm, but the underwater waves are rough.” It is no exaggeration to use this sentence to describe the danger of the waters where the underwater cultural relics are located. Since the waters and depths of underwater cultural relics are different, every underwater archaeological work will face various new problems. Due to the poor visibility of my country’s coastline water bodies, the detection of underwater cultural relics is inseparable from the help of advanced scientific equipment such as multi-beam detection sonar systems, side sonars, marine magnetometers, and shallow strata profilers. It is these advanced instruments that make The archeology of underwater cultural relics in my country has got rid of the work of “finding a needle in a haystack”. The archeology of shipwrecks in Houzhu, Quanzhou in the last century originated from fishermen picking up damp wood, which was a passive development; nowadays, underwater archeology of shipwrecks can be carried out actively by relying on precise ocean detection technology and advanced manned diving equipment. , and realized the progress of underwater archeology from shallow sea to deep sea.
After the well-known Nanhai No. 1 sunken ship was salvaged in 2007, George Bass, the “father of underwater archaeology in the world”, once marveled that “this can only happen in China Things”, which shows that the protective release of underwater cultural relics, especially the overall salvage of sunken ships, is even more difficult. The No. 2 ancient ship in the Yangtze River Estuary, as an underwater cultural relic salvaged as a whole, means that our country has enough ability to deal with the worldwide problem of protection and treatment of cultural relics out of the water. Obviously, underwater archeology needs to rely on the support of national scientific and technological hard power.
For a long time, my country has always been committed to the development of science and technology, and has put forward important theories such as “science and technology are the primary productive forces” and “innovation is the primary driving force for development”, and put them into practice, highlighting the The emphasis on science and technology at the national level. Thanks to the rapid advancement of scientific and technological strength, now we can not only carry out underwater archaeology, but also have deep-sea detectors that can break through the limit of 10,000 meters of deep blue, and explore more unknown mysteries in the waters of the earth. The exploration of the unknown can enrich human beings’ understanding of the future; the exploration of history is the best inspiration for exploring the laws of social development.
Whether it is the salvage of the Nanhai No. 1 shipwreck or the current Yangtze River Estuary No. 2 ancient ship as a whole, it has promoted the construction of my country’s underwater archaeological research disciplines again and again. The technical research of the subject has brought a wealth of valuable experience, and the research value of cultural relics salvaged is inestimable. Archeology is an important way to explore human civilization. Today, the progress of human civilization continues to promote the development of science and technology, and the innovation of science and technology feeds back the exploration of human civilization. We should be happy to see that with the help of technology, more cultural relics are presented to the public in an appropriate way.
(Source: Guangming.com Author: Guangming.com commentator)