A shell workshop from 4,000 years ago
Across from the Bao’an Temple beside Eluanbi Park is the Eight Dutch Heroes Shrine. This small, low building dates to the 1970s, when numerous stone coffins were unearthed during the construction of a residence along the roadside. The large rectangular stone coffins reflected neither the traditional burial practices of the Han Chinese nor the “crouched burial” traditions of local indigenous tribes. Perplexed by the discovery, the locals conjectured they might have been left by the Dutch, who had a presence in Southern Taiwan during the early modern era. The building is a youying gong temple, a type of Han Chinese shrine or temple dedicated to unclaimed remains.
But there were many questions unanswered and much more to be uncovered.
In 2019, a new construction project was initiated at the park entrance, where a ragtag collection of stalls had previously stood for nearly 50 years. Once again, a large number of human bones, stone coffins, and prehistoric artifacts were uncovered. In order to salvage these cultural artifacts, construction was immediately halted. A team of archaeologists from National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) led by Li Kuang-ti, formerly a research fellow at the Academia Sinica’s Institute of History and Philology, and Chiu Hung-lin, an associate professor at NTHU’s Institute of Anthropology, embarked on extensive excavations. The two-year dig yielded many “national treasures” in what archaeologists have hailed as the “greatest discovery in Taiwan in the last decade.”
Eluanbi Site 1 (OLP-I) is located next to the park management station, in an area originally slated for the construction of new shops. After all of the site’s artifacts were removed, the soil was refilled and the ground leveled. Forty-nine tombs were excavated, along with numerous prehistoric artifacts and “ecofacts” (natural items deposited by human activity) such as pottery sherds, tools, and other items made from shell, jade, bone and antler. The sheer quantity and density of them was breathtaking.
Carbon-14 dating of these finds, combined with an analysis of their types and materials, as well as of the techniques used to craft them, confirms that the site dates back approximately 4,000 years. The concentration of objects made from different materials in different locations indicates that prehistoric peoples held a conception of spatial planning with regard to burial areas, work areas, and garbage disposal.
The abundance of shell remains found at the northwest side of the site is particularly noteworthy. Collectively, the objects point to signs of artisans at work. Examples of raw materials, materials cut into blocks, semi-finished products, finished products, and waste materials were all present. Processing tools such as grindstones, drills, stone hammers, and stone saw blades were also discovered. Within the site, there are also shell mounds and hearths used for rituals employing shells as offerings. The scale of this shell workshop surpasses any others found in Taiwan—or even, for that matter, in the island nations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
The number of cultural relics unearthed at the site currently stands at over 10,000, with a total weight measured in tons.
An archaeological dig in 2019 invited the participation of local people. (courtesy of the Institute of Anthropology, NTHU)
Numerous shell artifacts are visible at the OLP-I site. (courtesy of the Institute of Anthropology, NTHU)
When stone coffins were first discovered here, their unfamiliar appearance caused locals to imagine that they were of European origin. Since the Dutch had a presence in Taiwan in the 17th century, residents named this shrine dedicated to the excavated remains the Eight Dutch Heroes Shrine.