Sea Area with Sunken Relics, Sinan

This is the sea area where a Chinese trading ship bound for Japan sank. Many artefacts intended for foreign trade, including celadon ware from China's Yuan dynasty, were excavated and salvaged from the seabed here. Over nine years, from 1976 to 1984, excavation and salvage work on the sunken ship and its cargo was carried out in ten campaigns; the artefacts recovered and catalogued in this work amounted to some 22,000 items in total, comprising ceramics, metal objects, stoneware, coins, medicines and everyday goods. The hull of the sunken ship measures 28.4 m in length and 6.6 m in width, and is thought to have been a trading vessel that set out from Hangzhou, China, bound for Japan by way of Korea. Judging from the style of the ceramics, the coins, and wooden tablets (documents written on wooden slips), the ship is thought to have sunk between 1331 and 1350. These underwater relics are of great academic value as material centred on the first half of the 14th century. In particular, since there is no other case in underwater archaeology of ceramics from a single period being excavated in such quantity, they are important material for establishing the date of manufacture and the place of production. This site is therefore a key location for research into East Asian ceramic culture and the history of trade. Note: the designation was renamed from "Sea Area with Relics of the Song-Yuan Period" to "Sea Area with Sunken Relics, Sinan" (announced 28 July 2011).

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Sinan, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Historic Site · 사적