Treasure hunter Luc Heymans found a sunken boat laden with rare ceramics that had sank more than 1,000 years ago. The vessel lay hidden at the bottom of the Java Sea until 2004. The 70-meter-long and 15-meter-wide boat was then identified as belonging to a fleet operating during ancient China's Five Dynasties period (907 - 960).

This boat was not as large as the "Treasure Boat" commanded by Zheng He but it was 400 years older, making it a valuable relic dating to the beginning of the "marine silk road." To date, little information about the Five Dynasties era exists and very few things sit in the museums. This wreck fills a gaping hole.

Luc Heymans hid all the excavated treasures in a warehouse in Indonesia. He reported that he expected to auction the treasure and that the cargo was valued at several million dollars. But Indonesian police confiscated his loot until he agreed that Indonesia would receive 50 percent of proceeds from the sale of the treasures. Sadly, Chinese archaeologists could do nothing to regain these Chinese treasures.

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