Doubts cast over whether To Kwa Wan well is from Song or Yuan dynasty
Doubts have emerged over whether a well that has had the most attention of historical finds at an MTR site is from the Song or Yuan dynasty
The dating of an ancient well has cast doubt on the research methods behind and scientific basis for the government's decision to preserve it in situ. Some say the decision about the find at the site of a station in To Kwa Wan, on the MTR's Sha Tin-Central rail link, was hasty.
The key question is whether the well indeed dates back to the Song dynasty, as Secretary for Development Paul Chan Mo-po has announced. It could instead have hailed from the Yuan dynasty, which came after the Song.
The confusion arose from an interim archaeological study report that the MTR Corporation submitted to the Antiquities and Monuments Office last month.
The well was part of a "building feature" from the Yuan era, the archaeologists, led by Dr Liu Wensuo of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, wrote in their 167-page interim report.
"In accordance with the typology of the ceramics unearthed in the feature, [the feature] is dated to the early Yuan to mid-Yuan dynasty," the report said.
The feature consisted of the well, 33 post holes and two wall structures. The distribution pattern of the items also suggested the whole feature came from that period, the report said.