What are buried cultural properties?

• Buried cultural properties refer to culturally valuable properties buried underground or hidden under the sea. Archeology divides them into three categories: ruins, remains and relics, all of which are subject to excavation.
• Relics include excavations such as earthenware, stoneware and ironware, while ruins and remains refer to structures built by ancient people, such as sites for houses and buildings and ancient tombs.
• The inspection of buried cultural properties is conducted in two steps, surface survey and excavation inspection. Surface survey refers to an inspection where inspectors find out the location of ruins without digging in the ground, based on the shards of earthenware, porcelain and roof tiles scattered on the ground. The survey provides various information including the location, type, and range of dispersion of ruins. However, the exact location, characteristics and construction period of the ruins can only be confirmed through excavation inspection.