Preservation urged for prehistoric relic site in Taiwan Dolmen Taiwan

Submitted by Anonymous on Friday, 03 October 2003 Page Views: 5475

Country: Taiwan Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen

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**Patoutse, Taiwan** submitted by Andy B : A member of TUFOA photographs marks on a rock outside Patoutse fishing port thought to indicate an extraterrestrial presence in Taiwan during the Stone Age. PHOTO COURTESY OF TUFOA Do you have any photos of megaliths in Taiwan? More on the article this photo came from here. (Vote or comment on this photo)

International academics joined Taiwan's scientific community yesterday in calling for quick action to preserve the human remains and artifacts discovered at a prehistoric burial site in downtown Taichung City earlier this week.

Hailing it as a major find, archaeologists and experts in anthropology have also criticized Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) for his callous attitude and negligence by allowing construction to continue in the adjacent lots, thus posing a threat to the excavation.

Dubbed the "Huei-Lai Relic Site" after its local area name, workers uncovered 1,300-years old skeletal remains of a boy wearing personal adornments and other accompanying ornamental articles, which are seen as indicative of ceremonial burial rites by family clan groups belonging to the ancient plains aborigine (Ping-pu) peoples of Taiwan.

The news has received extensive coverage in the local media because the excavation lies next to the proposed site for a Taiwan branch of Guggenheim Museum, a grandiose NT$12.4 billion project vigorously spearheaded by the city's major, Jason Hu.

When asked about the efforts being made to save the ancient relics, anthropology professor from University of Virginia in the U.S., John Shepherd said, "These are important historic treasures of Taiwan. Yes, the dig should continue and the excavation site should be preserved."

Professor Shepherd is a leading researcher on the historic studies of Ping-pu Siraya people of southern Taiwan. He is in Taipei this week to attend a 3-day academic conference on "Ethnic and Cultural Identities: Plains Aborigines and Taiwanese Society," which was organized by the Institute of Ethnology at Academia Sinica (中央研究院).

Shepherd has been working with scholars at Academia Sinica since the 1970s and said he understands there are active grassroots movement for cultural revival by plains aborigine communities and is interested in visiting Ping-pu burial sites that have been discovered at a number of localities around Taiwan in the recent decade.

Also attending the conference was Taiwan history and ethnology expert Chien Shi-lang, who had harsh words for the Taichung city government for not having designated the site as a significant archaeological discovery and not having protected the area with adequate measures.

"Judging from my prior experience, I am very worried about the 'Huei-Lai' site. There are excavators and mechanical digging tools busy working on a hotel project next door. Right now, official control over the area is rather lax. We urgently need safeguards in place. The authority must step in to stop the contractors from continuing construction in the adjacent area," as Chien spoke during an interview.

He said the relics can be easily destroyed by the heavy-loading machines, and there have been cases where new-found relics and human remains were plowed under by landowners to prevent any interference with building construction.

"Those unscrupulous public have also been known to steal items from these kind of digs to sell on the black market. It has happened on many aboriginal burial grounds and we have lost many treasures that belong to the whole society... There are quite a few ancient plains aborigine relic sites around Taichung. However, Mayor Jason Hu has always shown indifference to these highly-significant archaeological discoveries. It is time for aborigine activists to get together and request the government to protect this sacred ground that belong to their ancestors," according to Chien.

Source: Taiwan News, Contributing Writer / By Jason Pan

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