The relics, or rather fragments of what were once household wares and the remains of food stuffs, included plates, bowls and urns as well as glazed pottery and large numbers of animal bones and shells.
While much of what was unearthed during the group's excavations on Kinmen dated from the Song dynasty (
The extensive digs on Kinmen might not have yielded any breakthrough finds, but they did provide strong evidence apropos the close historical relationship between Southeast China and Kinmen.
"Obviously we don't expect to find anything that will rewrite our history books, nor do we expect to come across any breathtaking and unblemished finds," Chiang said. "But the artifacts we did unearth certainly lead us to believe that Kinmen is a crucial cog in Taiwan's overall cultural history."
While it is hoped that the team's continued findings will lead to a better understanding of the cultural origins of the peoples of Taiwan, the task set before them will certainly not be completed overnight.
Because the team currently consists of only seven members, surveys and excavations -- not to mention the collating of results -- are proving lengthy affairs. And, according to Chang, things will probably slow down even more if public interest and academic support wane.
"While we could obviously do with more members, seven is okay to have present at a dig. It gets a bit messy and out of hand the more people you have trampling around," Chiang said. "I can imagine that it will be the slow axing of our annual budget that will finally bring the curtain down on the whole affair. I'm sure we're pretty near the bottom of all the national funding lists."
It's not only a question of cash, however. In addition to funds, the sluggish pace of excavating and cataloging of results is supplemented by the fact that the group's work remains a part-time venture.
Between April and May this year the group traveled to Penghu and excavated two sites. The thousands of artifacts unearthed during the month-long dig are still packed in plastic crates waiting for cleaning, classification and cataloging nearly six months after excavation.
"I guess, or rather I hope, we'll get around to sorting it all out sometime this year," Chiang said. "But as we all hold full-time positions with academic institutes, finding the time to get together to do this will, no doubt, prove a more painstaking problem than actually digging the holes in the ground."
It's not all bad news for HAT, though. While the problems with funding and work schedules continue to hamper the team's capacity to pursue its task of unearthing Taiwan's long-buried past, its members remain optimistic.
Plans are already being drawn up for next year's dig, which at present looks set to take place in either Tainan or Penghu.
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