Ship hull cracked
© Chinese Cultural Relics
A team of archaeologists have discovered a shipwreck in China, which had been hiding under silt and mud for more than seven centuries. Experts suggest that the new find dates back to a chronological era when the successors of Genghis Khan controlled China.

Ship Dates Back to Yuan Dynasty and Demonstrates Amazing Chinese Art

Even though China was dominated politically by the Mongols at the time, it was Chinese culture that prevailed. This is what the splendid art and artifacts discovered in the 21 meter-long (70 foot) wooden shipwreck clearly demonstrate. These include a bright-colored jar portraying a dragon and phoenix as Live Science reports.

Chinese vase
Yuan Dynasty Relic
Shougong Wang of the Shandong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and leader of the team of researchers that made the discovery, wrote in a paper published in the journal Chinese Cultural Relics that the ship was unearthed at a modern day construction site in Heze City, Shandong Province, and had a hull sectioned into twelve cabins by twelve bulkheads. He also added that the ship was probably used for river journeys.

Important Religious Figurines Found Inside the Ship

In the cabin that was used as a shrine, archaeologists found a religious burner and stone-carved figurines as Live Science reports. Carved out of agalmatolite stone, one of the figurines is 8.2 centimeters (about 3.2 inches) in height, and depicts a tiger sitting beside an "arhat" - an individual who in Buddhist belief has attained enlightenment. Another figurine portraying a dragon on the left side of an "arhat," was also found in the cabin. Carved out of agalmatolite stone as well, this figurine is slightly taller at 8.5 centimeters (about 3.3 inches), while the arhat is holding an alms bowl in his left hand.

"More than 100 artifacts were unearthed from both inside the shipwreck and its surrounding area, including artifacts of porcelain, pottery, lacquerware, jade, stone, iron, bronze and gold," the archaeologists wrote in the journal article.

For more on this article, go here.