ケニアと中国合同調査
ケニアと中国の水中考古学が合同調査を進めることが正式に発表されたようです。中国の考古学者がケニアと合同でラム諸島・マリンディ周辺で沈没船を探すためにサーヴェイを行う模様です。今後3年間で毎年2-3ヶ月のプロジェクトを行う模様。ケニアでは多くの中国陶磁器片が発見されており、貿易のメカニズムの解明を目指している。
People’s Daily Online
Zhao Hui, director of Peking University’s School of Archaeology and Museology, said that this project has witnessed 5 years of investigations, argumentations and preparations and it involves investigating, exploring and excavating the underwater cultural relics in and around the Lamu Archipelago, unearthing ancient ruins in and around Malindi City, and researching Chinese cultural relics unearthed in Kenya’s coastal areas.
Reporters learned that the Ministry of Commerce has allocated 20 million yuan to fund the important foreign-aid project scheduled to last 3 years. Every year, the Chinese side will dispatch experts to Kenya to work there for 2 to 3 months. Due to special climate conditions in Kenya, cultural relic excavation can only be launched during 2 dry seasons, namely, from June to September and from December to February of the following year. The curator of the Kenya National Museum disclosed that a Chinese expert group will arrive in Kenya in July 2010 and more Chinese experts are expected to arrive later.
According to Zhao Jiabin, director of the Underwater Archaeology Center at the National Museum of China, ship debris and ancient chinaware from China’s Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties have been discovered during the archaeological excavation and investigation in Kenya’s 5 coastal regions such as Malindi.
“We do not know whether Chinese or Arabs brought this chinaware,” said the curator of the Kenya National Museum, and cultural relic identification is also an important part of the China-Kenya cooperation. He added that most of the unearthed ancient chinaware has been put into the Kenya National Museum, and according to an international convention, China can borrow any unearthed item for the purpose of doing scientific research, but relevant agreements should be signed in advance.




