Lingots d'argent mis au jour à partir de la propriété de bateaux coulés leader paysan Zhang Xianzhong (Chang Hsien-chung) de la fin de la dynastie Ming (1368-1644) à la
Silver ingots unearthed from the sunken boats owned by peasant leader Zhang Xianzhong (Chang Hsien-chung) of the late Ming dynasty (1368-1644) at the bottom of the Minjiang River are on display during the public show in Meishan city, southwest China's Sichuan province, 20 April 2018. Nearly three months of digging for sunken treasure in a section of the Minjiang River in Meishan, Sichuan province, has yielded 12, 000 relics 400 years old. Archaeologists have unearthed golden, silver and iron weapons, including a blunderbuss. The dig started in January in a section of the river that runs through Jiangkou township in the city's Pengshan district. It's the first time archaeologists have unearthed a blunderbuss - an early firearm - since the first effort began in January 2017. That dig lasted 98 days before the arrival of the flood season and yielded more than 30, 000 relics. More than 1, 000 of those items related directly to the Daxi Kingdom, which was founded by Zhang Xianzhong, a rebel leader during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). They offer evidence that this spot in the river was where Zhang's fleet of about 1, 000 vessels was attacked and destroyed by a Ming general in 1646, two years after the dynasty's demise, said Gao Dalun, president of the Sichuan Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute. The excavation in Jiangkou was listed as one of China's top archaeological finds in 2017. Both archaeological digs in Jiangkou have received financial support from the National Administration of Cultural Heritage in Beijing. The blunderbuss found in the more recent dig is of great significance because it suggests a fierce battle in the cold weapon age, said Li Fei, a leading archaeologist at the research institute. Since the 1950s, bulk silver, gold and coins have been found in Jiangkou from time to time. The Meishan police said in October 2016 that they had detained 10 gangs for digging illegally for relics, in addition to breaking up trading networks involving 70 pe
