Taiwan could have had a copper casting factory 2,000 years ago
Submitted by Andy B on Monday, 04 September 2006 Page Views: 2140
DigsCountry: Taiwan A dig has been going on for 14 months at the Chiuhsianglan site in the Taimali area of Taidong County. The dig has yielded a totem pole featuring snakes, and archaeologists believe that this indicates the site has a clear connection to cultures that existed 2,000 years ago and that are still present to this day. The unearthing of the artifacts has been extremely important to creating a history of aboriginal cultural in Taiwan.Even more important, they say, is that the Chiuhsianglan site is the first place in which various copper items and vessels, including molds, have been unearthed. Based on this, the archaeologists believe that indigenous tribes here as early as 2,000 years ago possessed the techniques to manufacturer industrial arts products similar to that of a factory today.
Taiwan has a number of prehistoric digging sites. However, even the most well known ones, such as the Peinan cultural site, have not produced any artifacts that could be used to link the people of thousands of years ago to the contemporary indigenous tribes that populate the area. Archaeologists are still not able to even make any theories as to which indigenous tribe were represented in the Peinan area.
In September of 2003, the huge waves of a typhoon that hit the area crashed against the shoreline, exposing the Chiuhsianglan site. Archaeologists began to stage a dig at the area at the end of 2003.
The dig has been going on for 14 months, and on Thursday, an assistant researcher, Lee Kun-hsiu, of the National Museum of Prehistory, delivered a report on initial findings to the Department of Cultural Affairs of Taidong County. Lee, who is responsible for the archaeological project, explained the important discoveries from the site.
He said that snake totem poles are the most important of all totems for the contemporary indigenous tribes of the Raiku and the Paiwan. Lee said that many totems were unearthed at the Chiuhsianglai site. In addition, there were also snake patterns on a number of broken pottery pieces that were found. He said that there had never been any documented discovery of snake totems at the Peinan site.
In addition, a large number of glass beads were also uncovered, which indicate a close connection with the industrial arts practiced by modern indigenous tribes. Lee theorized that the Chiuhsianglan site could have been an area where people of the Paiwan or the Raiku tribes lived thousands of years ago. Either way, he said the site is the best evidence found to this date tracing Taiwan’s indigenous tribes back thousands of years.
After a clear line is established between the Chiuhsianglan site and modern aborigines, researchers will undertake efforts to find sites from even earlier times that Chiuhsianglan, in order to try and create a cultural connection. The ultimate goal is to create a comprehensive historical timeline for Taiwan’s indigenous tribes.
Lee said that the timeline of the Chiuhsianglan site is somewhat later than the Peinan site, which dates to the New Stone Age, and is in the time between the New Stone Age and the beginning of the Metal Age, which was about 2,000 years ago. He added that this was the first time that molds were found at an archaeological site in Taiwan. Lee noted that the molds, which were made out of sandstone, could be used to produce copper bells, knife handles, iron vessels, ear ornaments and glass beads. He said that the structure of the molds is quite intricate.
Lee said that based on these discoveries, he believes that Taiwan indigenous tribes at that time already had a fairly solid knowledge of and ability in industrial arts. He even went so far to say that the Chiuhsianglan area could have been an area where a factory was located.
Lee said that in the past, there have been sites in Taiwan that have yielded bronze artifacts. Previously, archaeologists believed that these bronze items had come from abroad. However, the discovery of the molds at Chiuhsianglan has overturned that theory. Judging from intricacy of the molds, the technology for the molds, however, may have come from overseas. On the other hand, people in Taiwan may have already developed such technology at an even earlier time, which would explain why the technology displayed in the molds found at the Chiuhsianglan site is so advanced.
Source: Government Information Office, Republic of China (Taiwan).
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