Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/02
By: Cheng Ching-wen and Frances Huang

Taipei, June 2 (CNA) The Ministry of Culture (MOC) said Saturday that it has designated the Hanben heritage as the eighth national historical site in Taiwan.

A historical site reviewing committee of the MOC made the decision to declare Hanben heritage a national historic site and also agreed to add “Blehun” which belongs to the Atayal language to the heritage site’s name to demonstrate its cultural traits under the Atayal aboriginal tribe.

The Hanben heritage is located in Nan’ao of Yilan County, eastern Taiwan, and was discovered in 2012 owing to a construction project to improve the Su Hua highway, which connects Yilan and Hualien counties.

After the discovery, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) entrusted Academia Sinica to conduct an archeology study on the Hanben site, digging out a number of ancient relics, including iron, jade, ceramic and stone made items as well stone coffins which contained people’s remains.     [FULL  STORY]