Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- Archaeologists have salvaged about 550 pieces of Chinese celadon and other artifacts, which appeared to be produced in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127~1279), in an underwater operation this summer off two South Korean islands.

The National Research Institute of Maritime Cultural Heritage said Wednesday that its researchers found Chinese ceramics through a three-month excavation that began in July in waters off Heuksan Island in Sinan and the southern resort island of Jeju.

Some 50 pieces of celadon were retrieved in the sea off Heuksan Island and 500 off Sinchangri in Jeju, the institute said, adding most of the Chinese relicts came from kilns in Longquan in China's eastern province of Zhejiang and some from Fujian Province.

In South Korea's largest underwater excavation from 1976 to 1984, archaeologists discovered some 24,000 pieces of artifacts from a wrecked 14th-century ship buried in the muddy seabed off an island in Sinan. The cargo consisted of Chinese ceramics from Longquan, which were ordered by Japan. 
The institute said Heuksan and Jeju were believed to be stopovers in a trade route in Northeast Asia.