During the ongoing exploration of the Nan'ao No.1, archaeological teams took pictures of the sunken Ming vessel's second tank and salvaged cultural relics from tank one, finding large amounts of bronze and colored porcelains among the cultural relics. The teams also found walnuts, chess pieces and small glasses inside a porcelain set buried in mud.
In previous expeditions archaeologists found several copper coins and then a large amount of bronze on May 18.
"This phenomenon is very unusual. Copper exports were forbidden in the Ming Dynasty because of the copper shortage. To export a large amount of bronze was illegal during that time," said Cui Yong, leader of the underwater archaeological team.
Source: People's Daily