Historians, residents and community college students in Taipei City’s Wenshan District (文山) are making efforts to preserve a local archeological site discovered 80 years ago.
“During the construction of Taihoku Imperial University — now called National Taiwan University — in 1928, a farmer discovered some pieces of stone tools at the construction site,” Cheng Ching-lung (鄭景隆), a Wenshan Community College student and an amateur archeologist who has been studying the Shiwufen (十五份) archeological site, said at a forum held at the site yesterday.
The site’s name came about because it is located approximately within the boundaries of an ancient village called Shiwufen.
However, the 1928 discovery was only taken seriously decades later, after more stone tools and weapons were found.
“We’ve done tests on them and found that these items date back to the Neolithic Age, which was about 2,000 to 3,000 years ago,” said Liu Ying-san (劉瑩三), dean of National Dong Hwa University’s Institute of Earth Sciences.
When residents learned of the significance of the site, they and the community college launched an effort to preserve it.
“After discussing the issue with several academics in the fields of history and archeology, we filed an application with Taipei City’s Department of Cultural Affairs,” Cheng said.
But there was not enough evidence to show a prehistoric community, the city said. The area was labeled as a “possible archeological site,” which meant the city would not protect it, Cheng said.
“Even though the city government didn’t respond to our request positively, we can still do something,” Cheng Hsiu-chuan (鄭秀娟), president of Wenshan Community College, said.
“As we don’t have enough items or funds to build a museum, we’re working to create a ‘virtual museum’ online to showcase the archeological findings,” she said.
Chien Yu-hwa (簡玉華), a Council of Cultural Affairs official, lauded the efforts of the Wenshan residents.
“Although there may still be a long way to go before the Shiwufen archeological site can be fully revealed, it’s heading in a positive direction as your efforts have already successfully raised the awareness of the community on its history,” Chien said.
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