<< Our Photo Pages >> Peinan Cultural Park - Ancient Village or Settlement in Taiwan

Submitted by Andy B on Thursday, 30 July 2009  Page Views: 16877

Multi-periodSite Name: Peinan Cultural Park Alternative Name: Peinan Site, Crescent shaped Stone Pillar, Pei-nan
Country: Taiwan
NOTE: This site is 24.316 km away from the location you searched for.
Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Taitung  Nearest Village: Beinan (Pei-nan)
Latitude: 22.794224N  Longitude: 121.116440E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 5 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 5

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Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by Creative Commons : A partial excavation of the Peinan Site and the slate graves. 中文(繁體)‎: 卑南遺址發掘現場與石棺 Creative Commons image by Benson KC Fang Site in Taiwan (Vote or comment on this photo)
In 1945 Japanese scholars discovered hundreds of crescent-shaped, slate stone pillars (later determined to support houses) and conducted small-scale excavation. But it wasn’t until July 1980 that excavators at the site of the Beinan train station unearthed more than 1,500 slate stone coffins and over 20,000 stone and pottery artifacts.

Today, the Peinan site (Beinan site) is recognized as the largest and most intact Neolithic village of its kind in the Pacific Basin.

A team of salvage archaeologists from National Taiwan University (NTU) had only 400 days to excavate the site. Then, it took them a few decades to catalogue the rich remains. After locals protested to demand the return of their heritage, the relics were recently sent back in boxes and are now part of the Beinan Cultural Park and National Museum of Prehistory(NMP).

The modern Beinan archaeological site, where progress is slow in coming, with a dearth of archaeologists on the island.

With an annual budget of NT$200 million, a massive museum was constructed 5 kilometers from the site, so it wouldn’t be disturbed. The government also bought 20 hectares out of the 80 hectares estimated as the settlement’s size; 20 hectares were subsequently destroyed. Beinan covers a tract of rolling hills and a host of cinnamon, durian and other paradisiacal trees — a beautiful but largely unexcavated park. Farmers can only grow in the area; construction is forbidden. Only a few hectares have actually been unearthed, another indicator that what we know so far about Taiwan’s archaeology just scratches the surface.

What was this Neolithic town at Beinan, and what happened to it? Amis aboriginals believe the Beinan site is a sacred – some say cursed — resting place of their ancestors. Local creation myths of the Paiwan and subtribes involve mountain origins, coming from snakes or borne from a jug, rather than overseas.

Trista di Genova continues: I took part in an archaeological dig there, an NMP program run primarily for high school students, There was a lone placard, “Indigenous Legends about Beinan,” in the Beinan Culture Park museum that discussed the Beinan peoples’ origin. With the translation assistance of my 18-year-old “pit buddy” there are competing accounts in local folklore of what happened to the Beinan people, known as the “Lala ersa.”
The Puyuma tribe at Nanwang say two brothers were in a fight; the younger was kidnapped and abused while imprisoned. The elder used a kite to save his brother. The grandmother, who knew magic, taught the tricks of earthquakes. The house of Lala burned during earthquake and fire, left in ruins.

The Amis at Tavarong say that once, a girl was kidnapped by the Beinan people to become a bride. Her brother rescued her through the help of the Lala ersa. But fighting broke out and the Lala ersa were all killed.

Read the full article, with photos at The Wild East.

Link to Official Web Site for Peinan Cultural Park

Note: Trista di Genova writes about the prehistory of Taiwan, and how Taiwan plays a central role in the dispersal theory of Austronesian-speaking peoples into Southeast Asia.
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Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : Peinan Cultural Park museum. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : The hut reconstruction. Site in Taiwan (Vote or comment on this photo)

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : A large (5-6m high) menhir with 2 holes, inside the museum. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : A large (5-6m high) menhir with 2 holes inside the museum. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : Painting of the Peinan site inside the museum. Site in Taiwan (Vote or comment on this photo)

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by Creative Commons : The Moon-shape Monolith/ by Japanese anthropologist Torii Ryūzō 中文: 大約在一百多年前,日本的學者鳥居龍藏來到台東卑南遺址,留下了最早的照片和記錄。月形石柱的價值,在於它所代表的象徵和意義,因為它正是卑南文化千年故事的起點。 Date circa 1896 Source University of Tokyo's Torii Ryuuzou archive image by Torii Ryūzō...

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : Peinan Cultural Park museum. Site in Taiwan

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : Stone artifacts, Peinan Cultural Park museum.

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : Sone artifacts, Peinan Cultural Park museum.

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : Stone artifacts, Peinan Cultural Park museum. Site in Taiwan

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : The stone cists inside the museum.

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : Stone cists inside the museum. Site in Taiwan

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : Peinan Cultural Park museum - the excavations.

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : Peinan Cultural Park museum - the excavations.

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : Peinan Cultural Park museum - the excavations.

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : Peinan Cultural Park museum - the excavations. Site in Taiwan

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : Peinan Cultural Park museum. Site in Taiwan

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : The menhir at its original site. Site in Taiwan

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : Peinan Cultural Park museum.

Peinan Cultural Park
Peinan Cultural Park submitted by KaiHofmann : Peinan Cultural Park, entrance.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
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"Peinan Cultural Park" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Peinan Cultural Park Street View by Andy B on Wednesday, 08 May 2013
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Re: Peinan Cultural Park by Andy B on Wednesday, 08 May 2013
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The rare surviving Crescent-shape Stone Pillar is the main landmark of the Peinan Site, and the starting point of the story. Since the site has not been completed excavated, the Visitor Center is now the focal point for exhibits.

The exhibition themes are based on the excavated artifacts and the cultural phenomena of the Peinan Site, as well as the excavation course and outcomes. The Excavation Site, once planned to be road construction area, now allows the visitors to witness and experience the excavation of the prehistoric houses and burials. The Lookout, the highest point of the park, offers an unbounded view of the entire site and the surrounding environment. Visitors can imagine the interaction between the nature and the culture, and changes that had taken place.

The earliest records of the Peinan Site were made by Ryuzo Torii, an anthropologist in the early period of the Japanese Occupation in Taiwan. During his four visits to Taiwan for anthropological research, he took two photos of the stone pillars on the ground surface at the Peinan Site; the photos were probably taken in 1896. Tadao Shicano was the first scholar who studied the Peinan Site as an archaeological site. He mentioned in his published article in 1930 that there were numerous slate pillars erected on the ground surface. Shicano, from the legends that were told in the neighboring area of Peinan, inferred that there used to be an ancient tribe, and that the pillars were the remnants of their houses. During the 50 years of Japanese Occupation, the focus of researches had been on the remains of the erected stones on the ground. It was only in 1945 that Joubu Kanasaki and Naokazu Kokubun started carrying out excavations around the largest erected stones, and discovered the underground remains of pottery and houses.

Although there were quite a lot of researches conducted on the Peinan Site by native scholars in Taiwan after the Japanese Occupation Period, there were no excavations done. The Peinan Site was listed as a local heritage site by the Taitung County Government in 1975 and was upgraded to a Class III site in Taiwan in 1979. However, the job of historical preservation had still not been completed. The remains buried underground for thousands of years were unearthed, yet severely damaged during the construction of the Peinan New South Link Railway Station (today's Taitung Station) which began in 1980, and great interest was shown by the public.

The Taitung County Government then invited Anthropology Professors Wen-hsun Sung and Chao-mei Lien from the National Taiwan University to lead the archaeological preservation project. There were 13 stages in the project, which was carried out over nine years. The results were impressive. New records of excavation were set in the archaeology history of Taiwan, namely the number of slate coffins and remains excavated. Among the unearthed artifacts, the public was especially in awe of the huge number of exquisite jade objects. The Peinan Site is undoubtedly one of the prehistoric sites that best represent Taiwan.

http://en.nmp.gov.tw/park01-1.html
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