A wooden coffin believed to be nearly 5,000 years old has been unearthed at an archaeological site in the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park in southern Taiwan, a local archaeologist said yesterday.
"We discovered the grave at a site reserved for construction of a public facility in the science park on Monday," said Chu Cheng-yi (朱正宜), a research fellow with the Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica -- Taiwan's highest academic body.
Chu, who has been conducting a field study at the science park since 1995, said it was the first time his archaeological team had discovered a grave with a wooden coffin in the area.
In the past, the team has found stone sarcophagi, but nothing like these wooden coffins.
The team unearthed two wooden coffin slabs, Chu said.
"Each of them was 40cm long and 10cm wide," he explained. "They are made of hardwood and are dark brown in color. We need further examination to determine the exact type of wood," he said.
Also unearthed in the grave were more than 20 cord-marked pots and many pottery shards.
Archaelogists also discovered the skeletons of a man and a woman, both of whom were in their 20s when they died, Chu went on.
"This is also the first time that we have discovered the remains of a couple buried together in a single grave in the region," Chu told reporters.
Over the past six years, Chu's team has unearthed more than 370 human skeletons and a large quantity of pots and shards at nine archaeological sites in the Tainan science park, which is still under construction.
The newly discovered grave was found beneath the ninth archaeological site, known as the Nankuanli East cultural relic.
According to Chu, his team last month also excavated a grave containing 20 human skeletons, two complete dog skeletons, 140 rubbish pits, as well as many grains and shells at the site.
"All of the skeletons and artifacts were buried at a depth of between 0.5m and 1m in an area spanning 1,500m2 ," Chu said.
He added that the relics belong to the Tapenkeng culture which dates back 5,000 years.
Construction at the Tainan science park will shift into high gear next year.
Chu said his team must step up its work to rescue as many cultural relics in the region as possible before they are covered by concrete for the construction of the site.
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