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COMPASS MAGAZINE > April 2015
 

OFFBEAT
 

Huei-lai Archaeological Site

Words and translated by Audrey Liu

This first-ever historical site discovered in Taichung City was designated by the Taichung City Government on January 6, 2010 as the Huei-lai Archaeological Site. Located in the city's 7th Redevelopment Zone, just down the road from Tiger City, this site actually dates as far as back over 4,000 years ago, ranging from the Prehistoric Jomon Period to the latter years of the Qing dynasty. Discovery of this site was considered a major archaeological find that shed new light on central Taiwan's past, so the land was rezoned and redeveloped into a park. After the full skeleton of a child was unearthed here on September 30, the site will be developed as Huei-lai Memorial Park, also known as Xiao-lai Park.

While it might have once been difficult to imagine that prehistoric ruins and remains existed inside one of the city's prime real-estate and development areas, this changed on May 18, 2002 when Tunghai University student Chen Sheng-ming discovered a piece of pottery in the western section of a construction foundation for the Taichung Idee Department Store. He sent the shard to National Museum of Natural Science, where the archaeological research staff confirmed it as a piece of prehistoric Jomon pottery. Preliminary estimates indicate that the entire prehistoric ruin covers at least 150,000 square meters, including areas around HuiZhong, ShiZheng South 2nd, LiMing and ShiZheng North 6th roads.

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Right: Human bones dated from 1,300 years ago.

To see the excavation site for yourself, stroll along the brick path inside Xiao-lai Park to a covered platform surrounded by a large lawn. There you will see some representative relics on open display. These are actually reproductions of the originally-excavated bones and antiquities, displayed for educational purposes while the real items are properly preserved at the National Museum of Natural Science. Explanatory signs at the site also give visitors a better understanding of the prehistoric culture revealed here.

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Left: An accumulation of discarded large-animal bones from deer, wild boar and other creatures.
Medium: The area, also known as the "pit ruins", is where people threw away broken fragments of pottery vessels to avoid being cut when walking.