Tainan cultural items found during project displayed
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter, in Tainan
Cultural heritage remains discovered during the completion of the Tainan underground railway project are on display at the Tainan Cultural and Creative Park, the Railway Bureau said yesterday.
The project’s construction team found 20 archeological sites along the 8.23km-long underground railway route, with historic objects dating back to prehistoric times, China’s Qing Dynasty, the Japanese colonial era and the post-World War II era.
Among the most significant discoveries, the archaeological site at Sheng Kung Girls’ High School yielded prehistoric pottery and stone artifacts, including deep-bellied bowls, pottery spindle whorls and stone tools used for fishing.
Railway Bureau Director-General Yang Cheng-chun, front right, visits the Tainan Cultural and Creative Park yesterday, where cultural remains uncovered during construction of the Tainan Railway Underground Project are displayed.
Photo: CNA
Remains of the Tainan city walls dating back to the reign of Qing Emperor Qianlong provide evidence of the city’s historic defense system, the bureau said.
A former underground military arsenal yielded a dense concentration of military artifacts, including more than 2,000 cannonballs, as well as firearms, cannon barrels and helmets.
Near the former Sin Lau Hospital, archaeologists uncovered remains associated with the traditional sugar industry, including a 5.1m-long arrangement of sugar molds used in white-sugar refining and layers of a compacted-earth road believed to have been used by ox carts. The remains shed light on Tainan’s sugar production during the Qing Dynasty.
Other discoveries include north and south railway turntables dating to the early Japanese colonial period, which were used to turn locomotives around, as well as the remains of Guyuan (固園), a residence and garden associated with a prominent family.
Railway Bureau director-general Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said construction of the underground railway project was postponed for about two years because of the discoveries of these archeological sites.
“Through the project, not only do the residents in Tainan get a new underground railway line, but they also discover valuable cultural assets that tell stories of their ancestors,” Yang said.
The exhibition is open to the public free of charge until Nov. 22, the bureau said.
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