The first discovery of Laoye Temple waters

China’s first inland water underwater archaeological exploration of the “Devil’s Triangle” in Poyang Lake

On March 18, 2013, my country conducted its first inland water professional underwater archeology here. Workers conducted intense underwater exploration and discovered the first missing sunken ship in the Laoye Temple waters of Poyang Lake in Jiangxi, known as China's "Bermuda".

Archaeological divers took turns diving into the water to discover sunken metal ships

The divers dived into the water several times and brought up a strip of metal shipwreck fragments from the bottom of the lake. "The biggest difference between inland waters and marine underwater archeology is that there is a lot of silt under the lake, so the visibility is very low. At a depth of five or six meters, you can't see anything clearly even with a flashlight on. You can only rely on The divers were groping in the mud with their hands." Fan Changsheng, director of the Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Archeology, said that due to carrying very heavy equipment, a group of divers can usually only work for about 20 minutes.

The mystery of the "Devil's Triangle" has been scientifically deduced

According to Fan Changsheng, although not many things were discovered in the underwater archeology this time, it is basically confirmed that there is a metal ship here. The sunken ship can be judged from the wreckage fragments. It is about a ship from the 1970s and 1980s. It is about 28 meters long and 7 meters wide. "At that time, many Jiangxi ships passed by here, transporting wood and grain." According to Fan Changsheng's inference, this modern metal ship was most likely transporting wood, but why did the ship sink here? And there are historical records that 13 ships were wrecked here on August 3, 1985 alone, which is also rare in the history of world shipwrecks. What puzzles him is the ship that sank here. At that time, people used various methods to salvage, but no wreckage was found. Therefore, the ship sank and disappeared mysteriously, becoming the "Devil's Triangle" of Poyang Lake and an unsolved mystery for more than half a century.

This special underwater archaeological survey of Poyang Lake is the first underwater archaeological survey project in inland waters approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. It is also the first underwater archaeological survey conducted by artificial diving in my country’s inland waters. Work in ancient times. This special investigation mainly achieved the following results: 1. Achieved a zero breakthrough in underwater archaeological investigation in my country's inland waters; 2. Verified the relevant clues from the previous land survey and geophysical survey, and explored an internal It is an economical and efficient method to detect underwater cultural relics in land waters; 3. Form a working mechanism for close cooperation among multiple departments in the protection of inland underwater cultural heritage; 4. Collect the underwater geological and hydrological characteristics and weather conditions of Poyang Lake waters. , and accumulated experience for future related work.