Century-Old Artifacts Uncovered During Tainan Underground Railway Construction Project

As the Tainan Railway Underground Project enters the final countdown to opening, this major infrastructure initiative crucial to the city's traffic and urban stitching has not only transformed the local landscape, but also unexpectedly uncovered a chapter of history buried deep underground for centuries during construction. The Railway Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation officially showcased as many as twenty important cultural asset relics unearthed along the route during the project today. These unearthed artifacts and ruins span prehistoric culture, the Qing dynasty, the Japanese colonial era, and the early post-war period, resembling a three-dimensional developmental history of Tainan. They allow the public to re-examine the historical ancient city's changes across different eras and the trajectories of ordinary people's lives through physical artifacts.

As one of Taiwan's oldest historical cities, Tainan often conceals rich archaeological assets underground, which also frequently presents a major challenge when advancing large-scale public projects. During the planning and construction process of the Tainan Railway Underground Project, relevant units adhered to the regulations of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act, conducting rigorous cultural asset test excavations and monitoring work across various construction sections. The twenty relics exhibited this time are important achievements by the engineering team in balancing modern transportation construction with historical and cultural preservation. These relics are not products of a single era, but rather present continuous historical superposition, proving that the land of Tainan has borne traces of continuous human activity for thousands of years, while also reflecting the process of alternation and integration among different regimes and ethnic groups here.

From a chronological perspective, the relics excavated this time include prehistoric cultural layers dating from thousands to hundreds of years ago. The unearthed pottery fragments, stone tools, and other relics tell the story of how early indigenous peoples or even earlier prehistoric humans survived and multiplied in Tainan's lagoon and plain environments. As time progressed into the Qing dynasty, with the rise of the city as the political and commercial center of Taiwan, underground relics began to reveal facilities related to everyday life, defensive fortifications, or commercial trade, such as ancient wells, drainage ditches, and house foundations. These relics not only outline the street layouts of the time but also reflect the dense population concentration and commercial activities of the Tainan prefecture city during the Qing dynasty, offering later generations a glimpse into the bustling scenery and daily routines of the prefecture city back then.

Entering the Japanese colonial era, the introduction of modern urban planning left a profound imprint on Tainan, which was also corroborated by the archaeological discoveries along the Tainan railway route. Relics from the Japanese colonial period, such as railway construction, drainage systems, modern industrial facilities, and dormitory complexes, were unearthed successively, demonstrating how the wave of modernization reshaped Tainan's urban space. In addition, architectural and living traces generated in response to rapid social changes in the early post-war period are also among the exhibits. The juxtaposition of these relics from different historical periods has unexpectedly turned the Tainan Railway Underground Project into a large-scale urban archaeological excavation, which not only enriches Tainan's historical database but also provides a practical example of balancing Taiwan's transportation construction with cultural asset preservation.

For the local cultural community and all citizens, the significance of the Tainan Railway Underground Project has long surpassed a mere upgrade in transportation. Through the exhibition of these unearthed cultural assets, the public is able to perceive the city's warm and profound historical foundation beyond the cold steel bars, concrete, and modern rail construction. Brought back to the light of day, these memories of the ancient city buried deep underground have become a bridge connecting the past and the future, allowing modern people to hold greater respect and identity toward the land beneath their feet while enjoying the dividends of urban development brought by convenient transportation. As the opening date approaches, the proper preservation and exhibition planning of these cultural asset relics will also become an important indicator for measuring a city's cultural maturity.