Taipei, Sept. 13 (CNA) A pair of French specialists completed a six-day trip to Penghu, an island group off southwestern Taiwan, Wednesday to help with the first project of underwater cultural assets preservation in Taiwan, according to a government agency.
Jean-Luc Massy, director of the Department for Underwater and Undersea Archeological Research (DRASSM) which is under the supervision of the French Ministry of Culture, led a group of Taiwanese researchers in the expedition off the coast of Makung, Penghu, searching for a shipwreck.
Ceramics and ancient Chinese porcelain were found during dredging of Makung harbor last year. The dredging was immediately suspended after the findings, and gossip about shipwrecks and a submerged city soon spread among the locals, said Chang Lung, Director of the National Center for Research and Preservation of Cultural Property.
The research team found porcelain, ceramics and wood during two dives into the 10-meter-deep water, Massy said, adding that the articles could come from the 15th to 18th Century but there was no evidence of a shipwreck.
There is estimated to be more than 300 shipwrecks in the Taiwan Strait, Chang said.
With the help of underwater archeology, the study of Taiwanese maritime history will help give a better understanding of its ancient history and position in Southeast Asia, Massy added.