Heping Island’s history spotlighted by Taiwan excavation project

2020/06/19

The history of Heping Island located off the coast of Keelung City in northern Taiwan is being spotlighted by an excavation project led by the Institute of Anthropology at National Tsing Hua University in the northern metropolis of Hsinchu.
 
 Launched in the early part of the last decade by IA head Tsang Cheng-hwa, also a scholar with Taipei City-based Academia Sinica—the country’s foremost research organization, the project involves researchers at Taipei City-based National Taiwan University. NTU kick-started initial excavation of Heping’s Spanish Fort San Salvador in 1933.
 
 Heping is of great significance to academics as it is an early point of contact with Western seafarers arriving in Taiwan. Spanish merchants first came ashore in 1626 to compete with Dutch traders who had settled two years earlier. In 1642, the Dutch East India Company drove its European rival from Taiwan and became the sole colonial power before being expelled 20 years later by exiles from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) court.

Among the IA team’s more remarkable finds was the foundation of a church, complete with human bones at the site of the fort. Results from the first dig have been preserved for further classification and study, as well as use in public education programs. Many of the fragile items were sent to IA for safekeeping in a climate-controlled environment, while less delicate discoveries were housed locally.
 
 Assistant IA professor Ellen Hsieh said much of the excavation and preservation work was conducted with future exhibition needs in mind. Vestiges of Spanish- and Japanese-era structures can be displayed side by side to illuminate traces of successive rule by various powers, she said.

Hsieh, an anthropologist, believes the project will eventually enhance understanding of Taiwan’s past. History is not a random combination of fragments, she said, adding that the Heping findings are set to significantly deepen public understanding of Keelung’s development.
 
 This broader framework gives greater insight into the various peoples who called Taiwan home over the course of time. Indigenous and migratory groups interacted in ways that substantially impacted contemporary geographic, economic, political and social conditions, Hsieh said. Such Historical analysis should not be limited to the oppressive relationship between colonizers and locals, she added.
 
 The project offers exciting possibilities, especially for researchers in fields such as anthropology, archaeology and indigenous studies. Through contacting with tangible objects unearthed at sites like Heping, academics and the people can gain a clearer picture of history while building a collective memory of society and the country.

Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)