It might have created little media attention, but the display of ancient artifacts excavated by the Historical Archeology Team (HAT, 歷史考古小組) from sites in Hualien and Kinmen, which is currently on show at Taipei's National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館), is a milestone for local historians and archeologists alike.
While the 250 pieces that comprise the exhibition are only a very small percentage of the total amount unearthed by the group, it is hoped that the collection will be enough to spark public interest in a field of historical detection that is still misunderstood by much of Taiwan's populace.
"Until the director put the idea forward to form a group of experts to excavate historical sites, non-academic archeology in Taiwan was nearly non-existent," stated HAT's Chai Chen-hsiao (
Established on the recommendation of the director of the National Museum of History, Huang Kuang-nan (黃光男), and jointly funded by the museum and the Ministry of Education, HAT is the first nationally funded group to be established with the aim of locating and excavating the multitude of proven and suspected archeological sites that dot Taiwan.
Preceding the establishment of the team, which includes archeologists, historians and anthropologists, a vast majority of the archeological digs that took place in Taiwan were undertaken by two of the nation's leading institutes of higher education.
Over the years, members of the anthropology and archeological institutes of Academia Sinica (中央研究院) and National Taiwan University (國立台灣大學) have discovered a total of 179 sites of historical interest throughout Taiwan and its outlying islands. This number, however, is only a fraction of the more than 1,000 sites believed worthy of excavation.
"There are reportedly over 1,000 sites in Taiwan where experts predict that substantial finds of historical significance could be unearthed," said Chiang Kuei-chen (江桂珍), anthropologist and fellow member of HAT. "Some of these we know about because of their mention in historical tomes and others because residents of the areas have regularly reported the finding of ancient artifacts to the authorities. Of course, in addition to these, there are probably plenty of other sites we don't know about."
After spending months in Hualien early last year, where the newly formed team trained and honed its archeology skills at an already well established and extensively surveyed site, it was decided that the team's inaugural dig take place in an area where Taiwan's earliest cultural influences came ashore.
Sending an advance party to Kinmen in April last year in order to survey suspected areas of historical value, the group finally began excavations at three sites in July of 2001. The team settled for sites located in the towns of Shuitou (水頭), Chunglin (瓊林) and Kuanou (官澳) for its inaugural digs.
"We decided on Kinmen because of its historical significance. It was one of the first places in what is present-day Taiwan to be influenced by the people and culture of Southwest China," Chai explained. "Because of this, Kinmen boasts a multitude of possible sites worthy of archeological exploration."
The group spent almost a month on Kinmen and exhumed upwards of 20,000 artifacts of historical value from over a dozen plots scattered throughout the three townships.
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