No. 237 Maritime Archaeology in the People's Republic of China ...

Figure 100. Bai Jiao 1 survey plan for 1990 (Yu Wei Chao et al., 1992:249).
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for archaeological students at Qingdao, Shangdong Province.
Through this program a number of students were trained and
are now able to provide the infrastructure for the underwater
archaeological program in China. This was established in
1987 by the National Museum of Chinese History. Since its
instigation the unit has been involved in three survey and
excavation projects on shipwreck sites dating to the Song and
Yuan dynasties (13th-14th centuries). These include the survey
of the South Sea shipwreck site found in the Guandong Province
in 1989; the Dinghai shipwreck site that is the subject of this
report; and the Suizhong shipwreck site found in Suizhong
County, Liaoning Province in 1991. On-going work is being
carried out on the Suizhong site and it is in its fourth year of
a proposed ten year excavation plan (Benan Lui, 1995:1).
The Dinghai shipwreck sites
Dinghai village is on the south of Huanqi Peninsula and north
of the Minjiang and Aojiang (river) mouths in the Fujian
Province. The Minjiang is the biggest river of the Province
and the Aojiang is the biggest in Lianjiang county (Figure 1).
The Dinghai coast is bound to the north by the East China Sea,
and to the south by the South China Sea. The waters adjacent
to the coast form part of the Formosa Strait that extends
eastwards to Taiwan. The body of water known as Mazhu
Bay is separated from the outer ocean by Mazhu Island. This
bay is the main seaway from Minjiang and Aojiang rivers to
the outer ocean and between the South China and East China
seas (Wu Chunming, 1990a:1). The region has many small
islands and exposed reefs and these have acted not only as
markers for navigation but also as obstacles to nautical activity.
There are known to be several shipwreck sites located near
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by these islands.
During the late 1970s fishermen at Dinghai began dredging
the shell sea-bed (in some places 3 to 5 metres thick) for lime
(pa ke) to be used in the building industry of Zhejiang and
Jiangsu Province. The shell is now commercially collected
using bucket dredges. Ceramic material is often brought to
the surface by these dredges. Although most is dated to the
Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties (Clark & Zhang Wei,
1990:239), some ceramic material is considered to come
from earlier in the Tang, and Five Dynasties. A Song Dynasty
candle stick was recovered from the dredger operators during
the 1995 expedition.
Most of the artefacts from the sea around Dinghai are
ceramic although bronze, iron, tin and wooden, together
with carbonised olives and jujube have also been found. The
examples of ceramics are mainly bowls, jars, pots, large dishes
and small bowls with glazes that include white (bai chi), misty
blue (ying qing chi), black (he you chi,) celadon (qing chi)
and dark reddish brown (jiang you chi). Many of the relics
previously recovered from possible wreck sites in the area
can be found in the local school at Dinghai, where they have
been collected. A catalogue of the material from the school
has been has been produced (Clark et al., 1995).
In November 1989, a maritime archaeological survey was
undertaken to identify a shipwreck site that could be used for
the China-Australian training programme. The site of the Bai
Jiao 1 was located with the help of local fishermen. In March-
May 1990, site positioning, pre-disturbance survey, surface
collection and test excavation were undertaken.
The majority of artefacts recovered were of the ‘black glaze’
or the tuhao zhan (‘rabbit’s fur’ glaze) bowl type. In order to