Salvage huge treasure under the Java Sea

The golden earring was found from the wrecked boat. A treasure of 14,000 precious stones and 250,000 ancient objects, dating back to the Five Dynasties of China (AD 907-960) and ancient Egypt, are disturbing in archeology.

A group of international divers excavated the boat filled with precious objects sunk more than 1,000 years ago, on the Indonesian coast. Experts believe that this shipment will reveal the light of how ancient trading routes were formed.

A sophisticated etching mirror made of shiny bronze is one of the masterpieces found among 250,000 artifacts discovered in the last 18 months. On an uproar with the word " Allah " engraved in Arabic letters, on the top of the mirror is a beautiful deer.

The small fragrances are scattered around terracotta jars, while long-necked jars are filled with racks along with colorful glassware from the Fatimides era that once ruled Egypt.

" It was an extremely special shipment ," said Luc Heymans, head of the excavation. " Right now there is very little information about the Five Dynasties in China and very few artifacts in the museum. This wrecked boat helped fill the void ."

Nearly 14,000 pearls and a pile of precious stones were also found on the boat, including 4,000 rubies, 400 dark red sapphire stones and more than 2,200 garnets.

It took more than 24,000 dives to salvage all the treasures from the boat 54 meters deep under the sea.

A Chinese ceramic vase belonging to the Five Great Age. " A shipwreck in the 10th century is extremely rare, " said Jean-Paul Desroches, at the Guimet Museum in Paris. He said that the ship and the cargo would reveal clues about why traders don't use the famous Silk Road - linking China with Europe and the Middle East - but moving to the sea. He said Chinese merchants had to move south due to the invasion of the north.

The diversity of wealth taken from the seabed is also impressive: decorative plates of dragons, macaws and other birds, sophisticated edging porcelain wares, lotus-shaped teapot and saucers Enamel glaze is still full of enamel. " The porcelain came from a kiln especially in Hebei Province, northern China, " said Peter Schwarz, a Chinese expert.

This treasure worth a few million dollars will be sold to a national museum or auctioned in 2006-2007.

MT ( according to AFP )