Asian Civilisation Museum - China

Dehua Porcelain

A shipwreck was discovered by fishermen in 1998.This discovery was extraordinary;the ship had been carrying China ceramics from the 9th Century.The ship had completed the outward journey but it sank on the return journey, approximately 1 mile a the coast of Belitung Island,Indonesia. It is still unclear why the ship was so far from its expected route back from China.The site location was purchased from the fishermen and a license to excavate the shipwreck was awarded to a local Indonesian company.The excavation spanned two expeditions, one which commenced in August 1998 and the second in 1999.Thus,the excavation had become the biggest single collection of Tang Dynasty artefacts found in one location.