#okimaibun
the first lecture is 「conservation of the golden and glass artefacts from kyo-no-uchi in shuri gusuku」, by takako kinjo, who is archaeologist at the prefectural centre. there will be a guided tour of the exhibition afterwards.
the room is full, so many people interested in artefacts conservation ?
kinjo will present the excavations of kyo-no-uchi and then the artefacts conservation.
kyo-no-uchi is part of shuri gusuku, it yielded large quantities of artefacts that are declared…

#okimaibun …national treasures. kyo-no-uchi is a religious space, very large, inside the gusuku. it has been excavated between 1994 and 1997 (bits of shuri are excavated every year).
important remains include stone walls and stairs in one corner that were filled with charred ceramic sherds. stoneware, metal and glass, really packed with them. the stones and floor were reddened too → destroyed by fire.

#okimaibun
they reconstructed hundreds (thousands? ) of pots and vessels, 14-15 c., from china, viet-nam, japan, thailand (mainly china)…
bowls, plates, pots, bottles… including very rare pieces, even rarely found in china, some only known in shuri, don't exist anywhere else in the world.
burnt → historical sources say there was a fire in 1459, probably this fire.
518 pieces declared national treasure in 2000.

#okimaibun the centre has a one month long exhibition for those pieces every year (now).
(interestingly enough, the permanent exhibition is mainly about kaizuka period, almost no kingdom period)
metal artefacts include nails, hair ornaments, mirrors, incense burners, 「ritual implements」(no, really, like bells, it's not a code to say we don't know what it is, ＊this time＊), armor bits.
coins including some not found anywhere else.

#okimaibun
the armor bits are decorated with very intricated floral patterns that are found also on decorative implements of the enkakuji temple. the enkakuji ones are definitely chinese, but the shuri armor bits might be ryukyuan copies.
takako really loves those metallic decorative patterns 😁but she's running out of time…
we have helmet bits too, with iron+bronze put together. this seems to be a ryukyu-only characteristic, although the shape is japan-inspired.

#okimaibun
in the 15-16c. there might have been a place where they crafted those metal artefacts in iri-no-azana inside shuri. they found scories. complete things found in kyo-no-uchi, unfinished things in iri-no-azana.
glass beads melted by fire and…she does not have any time left to tell us mooooore 😓 the archaeological center, the only place where they respect the time limits for the conferences…

@jannem
i don't mind at all being kept an hour more to talk about archaeology 😁