
(Special Exhibition) Sinan Shipwreck and its Treasures
In the summer of 1323, a merchant ship in the route from China to Japan disappeared in the waters off Sinan in Goryeo Korea. More than seven hundred years later, in August 1975, a Sinan fisherman’s net snared six pieces of Chinese ceramics, spurring an investigation that brought the sunken Shipwreck’s bounty to light once again. The Shipwreck is called the ‘Sinan Shipwreck’ after the village on the coast where it was found. This inadvertent discovery led to ‘the excavation of the century’ in underwater archeology in Asia. Commenced in 1976, the underwater excavation continued for nine years, until 1984. The Sinan Shipwreck was filled with precious goods seven hundred years ago. It was literally the greatest treasure ship in history. The Sinan Shipwreck and its treasures are heritage left by people from a long bygone era. They tell us much about the lives of Medieval merchants who traded far and wide over the seas and the flow of East Asian culture in the 14th century.