Archaeological team made major discoveries at Eluanbi Park, Hung-Lin Chiu (邱鴻霖) as an associate professor from Institute of Anthropology of National Tsing Hua University pointed out today, adding that not only a lot of tombs was unearthed, but also the field being the oldest shell tool processing plant ruin with largest area at Pacific Islands, of which it was estimated to be 4,000 years ago.
Hung-Lin Chiu (邱鴻霖) told reporters from Central News Agency that because the building of the store at Eluanbi Park of Kenting National Park was old, the Kenting National Park Headquarters spent about 100 million dollars to rebuild it as a modern green building in 2017, and the contractor found shell tools, human bones, and sarcophagus in the shallow underground during construction.
He further added that Kenting National Park Headquarters halted its operation in accordance with the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act, and it entrusted the archaeological team of National Tsing Hua University to conduct a research investigation.
Ecological reserve areas in Eluanbi park location in Kenting
Hung-Lin Chiu (邱鴻霖) said that he together with Kuang-ti Li (李匡悌) as a professor from the Institute of Anthropology of National Tsing Hua University led an archaeological team to carry out rescue archaeological excavations at “the first ruin of Eluanbi” in Pingtung County from 2019 till 2021, and they excavated a cultural treasure of great archaeological value.
According to the research report of the archaeological team, the dating results of this excavation showed that the time when there was the activity of dense human population at “the first ruin of Eluanbi” felt at the period from 4,200 to 3,800 years ago, and there were 51 tombs being excavated, of which 10 of them used slate and burial tools of coral reef, and through these, the burial styles and cultural customs of prehistoric human beings could be better understood.
The physical characteristics of the human body could also be further studied.
The archaeological team of National Tsing Hua University not only excavated a lot of tombs from the ruin, but also found a lot of shell tools and shell materials, which included finished products of shell tool, semi-finished products, blank, processing-related waste, and processing-related tools.
Due to its large number, it was very likely to be a shell processing site, confirming that the prehistoric people of Eluanbi had a unique set of shell tools processing technology.
These large numbers of shell tools were the first seen in Taiwan; in terms of shape, they were similar to the shell tools excavated in Pacific Islands, Hung-Lin Chiu (邱鴻霖) pointed out, adding that the age was also ancient, which they were of great significance to the evidence of overseas interaction in Taiwan’s prehistoric era, and further research, as well as comparison, were needed.
Eluanbi was not only an important facade in the south of Taiwan’s border (and thus one of the 8 wonders of Taiwan) , but also an important strong point for the development of Taiwan’s culture and tourism, he said, adding that due to the renovation of the store at this time, they found important ruin, but this had created impact on the lives of local resident, hence there should be good communication between cultural assets and development.
Take some time and walk around this obelisk in Eluanbi park, which is meant to be symbolizing Eluanbi as one of 8 views of Taiwan.
A lot of extremely valuable historical relics had been excavated in this archaeological event, and this was a rather exciting matter for the archaeological community, however, there was no proper place for preserving these historical relics after excavation, Hung-Lin Chiu (邱鴻霖) said, adding that help from the government was urgently needed.
He believed that the government should properly coordinate and plan, so that these historical relics can be displayed and exhibited locally, and they should simultaneously plan to rebuild the store to re-present the culture and characteristics of Eluanbi, of which it can not only take care of local resident and revitalize tourism, but also become an important educational field of Taiwan.