Archaeologists have begun a final attempt to excavate antiquities from Penny's Bay - the area on Lantau which is to be redeveloped for the Disney theme park.
It will be the largest marine archaeology survey Hong Kong has conducted, according to Chau Hing-wah, a curator with the Antiquities and Monuments Office.
Sonar has been used to examine the sea floor, where 47 sites of possible shipwrecks have been identified.
A bowl dating back more than 800 years to the Sung dynasty had been found in an offshore area, Mr Chau said. 'It is the oldest porcelain archaeologists have found in the area,' he said.
The discovery suggested there had been organised human activity in the area in the 13th century. Previous excavations indicated that the earliest human activity had been in the late 15th century.
William Meacham, an archaeologist who led excavations in 1986 and 1992, believes the site could have been a pirates' enclave, or a smugglers' haven to export materials overseas.
