Taiwan e-Learning & Digital Archives Program-The Project of Historical and Cultural Heritages developed in the Institute of History & Philology

The excavation of Tamalin Site, 1949
Tamalin which is located at Puli, Nantou County, has been a famous prehistoric archaeological site. It was first found by the Japanese anthropologist, Torii Ryuzo and was first excavated by another Japanese scholar, Asai Erin, in 1938. The Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica embarked on the first large scale archaeological excavation in Taiwan was at Tamalin 1949. Mr. Li Chi was the project director of this excavation. The IHP archaeologists, Shih Chang-ru, Kao Chu-hsun, and technical staff P’an Ch’ue led the History Department of Taiwan University teaching assistant, Chen Chi-lu and students, Ho Ting-jui, Sung Wen-hsun, and Liu Pin-hsiung, to proceed the fieldwork. Therefore, this excavation not only accumulated the archaeological data and research of this site, but also has inheritance meaning in Taiwan archaeological history. The people standing outside the pit, from left to right, in the photograph are, Liu Pin-hsiung, P’an Ch’ue, Sung Wen-hsun, Chen Chi-lu, Ho Ting-jui, and Kao Chu-hsun. Mr. Shih Chang-ru stood at the far right side. Those who stand in the pit are laborers.

Engraved deer skull
Engraved deer skull (Part1(《甲編》) 3940, R041038) Archive organization: Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica Excavation date: 1931, 4th Xiaotun excavation Place of excavation: Xiaotun, Anyang County, Henan Province Object dimensions: length - 22.7 cm, width - 20.2 cm Rubbing dimensions: length - 23.2 cm, width - 20.81 cm Obtained in the Institute of History and Philology's 4th Xiaotun excavation in 1931, and consisting of ten-odd oracle bone characters, it is a late Shang period 5 inscription: a graven record of affairs from the time of Di Yi and Di Xin. This piece is a rare and moreover completely well-preserved deer skull inscription, the contents of which record how the king of Yin, after a punitive attack on a neighboring state, proceeded to hunt at Hao on the return trip. Furthermore, he made the captured prey into a sacrificial offering for Wen Wu Ding. It is possible this inscription was engraved upon the skull of the very deer captured in the hunt.

Li Ch'un-yu Shih-chi
Written by Li Ch'un-yu(about 9th century), Tang dynasty. Sung dynasty commerical printer edtion. Height 26.8, width 16.8; frame: height 17.5, width 12.8 cm. Half leaf 10 lines, each line 18 words. Double border to left and right, single fish-tail. The number of words is recorded in the margin, and the number of scrolls accompanies the title. This copy of the Li Ch'un-yu Shih-chi is the only extant Sung version. reprinted in Ssu-pu Ts'ung-kan.

Miao's embroidery
Miao's embroidery, red bottom, green, purple embroidery, red bottom, green flower embroidery and butterflies patterns. It has blink medals, wave patterns, no lining but a piece of sheet.

The Last Testament of the K'ang-hsi Emperor
In the Ch'ing dynasty, when an emperor passed away, a last testament was announced in order to appoint a successor to the throne. On December 20th, 1722, the K'ang-hsi emperor died and, in his last testament, he proclaimed Yin-chen his heir. This document is crucial to scholars attempting to determine whether or not the Yung-cheng emperor ascended to the throne by fraudulent means.

Ornaments recovered from Shuiwaku site
Shuiwaku site is located on a terrace named Chikan at the northwestern Puli Basin, Nantou. This important prehistoric site was first found in the project of the archaeological research in the Choshui and Tatu River Valleys, 1970’s. After three archeological excavations, rich and complete content was unearthed. Therefore, this site was first announced as Nantou County monument March 2003, and designated as a county archaeological site in 2005. Shuiwaku site is a late Neolithic site about 2800-1000 B.P.. It is known as the earliest settlement in the Puli Basin so far. There were many agricultural, fishing and hunting stone implements such as axes, hoes, knives, net sinkers, spearheads, arrowheads recovered in the excavations. Woodworking implements such as adzes were also found at the site. These adzes are mostly made of jade or serpentine. Besides, a few ornaments were also recovered. On the photograph, the rings and the perforated ornaments are also made of jade or serpentine. There were many jade fragments, blanks and waste flakes recovering from Shuiwaku and other sites in Puli Basin. It indicates that the prehistoric Puli people had the technology of processing hard stone. Moreover, it implies these people interacted with the ones living in the jade origin at the eastern part of Taiwan. In other words, 2000 to 3000 years ago, Puli Basin was an important intermediate exchanging place for the prehistoric people in the eastern and western coast of Taiwan.

Ch'in Measure(originally: Nian Liou Nian Jhao Tuo Liang)
Title:
Ch'in Measure (originally: Nian Liou Nian Jhao Tuo Liang) (187716-343-1-2)
Time of Rubbing:
Qing Dynasty
Measurements:
Height 68cm, width 46cm
Description:
This shows overall rubbings of measures from the Ch’in Dynasty. The Ch’in emperor unified the whole nation’s measuring system through these measures, which measures to be about 200ml.The outer surface of measures like this is usually inscribed with testaments from Ch’in-shih-huang or his son Er Shih. This measure is made of copper, shaped like flat rectangle, has one handle, and is inscribed with a 40-word statement that Ch’in-shih-huang unified the measuring system during his 26th year as emperor.

Dai's Silver Plate
Dai's previous name is called Shan State, one of an ancient tribe in southwest frontier of China. The people of Dai now live in southwest border of China. Dai's traditional handcrafts are numerous including the spin and weave, bamboo weaving, pottery and silverware. This silver plate is handmade silverware, it has upmost beautiful design. The wave patterns or the lines of geometry of the silver plate are both sophisticated and astonishing. It has been found from the hands of previous Southwest ethic groups researchers from the period of 1937 to 1935.

Shui-hu Ssu-chuan Ch'uan-shu
Compiled by Shih Nai-an, edited by Lo Kuan-chung, punctuated by Li Cho-wu; Ming dynasty. Height 27, width 16.5; frame: height 20.5, width 14cm. Hu Shih's notes in red ink say: ''This one hundred and twenty chapter version of the Shui-hu Ssu-chuan Ch'uan-shu was published by Yang Ting-chien. It is the earliest one hundred and twenty chapter version of the text that I have seen.''

Routine Memorial from the Governor-General of Min-che (Fukien and Chekiang), Li Shih-yao, Reporting the death of the Provincial Navy Commander.
As in the Ming, central and local officials in the Ch'ing used the t'i-pen to submit reports concerning administrative activities. Attached at the end of most t'i-pen was a slip of paper, called t'ieh-huang, which summarized the contents of the t'i-pen. Each t'i-pen was presented to the emperor for "endorsement" (p'i-hung) with one or several proposals (p'iao-ni) written on a slip or several slips of paper for imperial selection. This routine memorial is a report provided by the Governor-General of Min-che, Li Shih-yao, regarding Provincial Navy Commander, Lan Yuan-mei. It reports that Lan Yuan-mei, who had led his troops to Taiwan to put down rebellious forces there, had died of dysentery while encamped at Lo’k-a-kang (present day Lu-kang).