Matsu's human history could trace back to late Tang Dynasty

This article was published by the Microview Weekly on August 15, 2007. It reports that according to Matsu officials in charge of cultural affairs, pottery shards unearthed recently from a prehistoric archaeological site in a village in southern Matsu prove that history involving human activity in the Taiwan-held island could date back to the late Tang Dynasty.

An archaeological team headed by Professor Chen Chung-yu of Academia Sinica's Institute of History and Philology and sponsored by the Matsu County Bureau of Cultural Affairs embarked on an archaeological mission throughout the five Matsu islets and decided to begin excavations in Fucheng Village on Tungchu islet in June 2007.

In a pile of discarded seashells that the team members excavated in the village, they discovered tons of seashells, fish bones and pottery shards. Of these items, they discovered a pottery eaves tile that was a product of the Southern Sung period, between 420-479 A.D., according to the Matsu officials.

Using carbon dating, the team members found that some of the pottery shards unearthed from the Fucheng site could be shards of pots or bowls used by people living in the Matsu area some 1,270 years ago.