Archeological Losses

During the time, one of the biggest controversies remained the social and

archaeological consequences of building the Three Gorges Dam. The Three Gorges area

is also home to over 1000 archaeological sites, some pertaining to civilizations thousands

of years old. Social costs of resettlement and environmental damage are enormous. Over

100 villages have been relocated and millions of acres of fertile farmland were lost,

accounting for about one third of the project's cost. These displaced families have lived in

the same village for centuries and now have exchanged their ancestral homes for poorly

built apartment blocks in a completely new location.

When initial excavations began, archeologists uncovered artifacts unlike any they

had seen before. These relics have since been attributed to the formerly unknown Ba

people, now considered an important part of early Chinese history. Since the discovery of

bronze masks in the 1970s, archeologists have located 100 sites that belonged to the Ba

people each considered a historical archive. The Ba disappeared after 316 B.C. with the

invasion of the Qing Dynasty, and their whimsical animal statues and ornately inscribed

daggers are all that is left behind (See, "Waters of Three Gorges Dam Will Wash Over

World Culture."). The Chinese government has long known where the archeological sites

are but claims that it has not had the resources to protect them. Total project costs near

$26 billion while only under international pressure did China allocate $135 million to

preserve relics (Ferraro, "China's Three Gorges Dam Social Consequences.").

Although the government's negligence has been heavily scrutinized and

outside assistance provided, several archeological had been exploited. Without

proper documentation and cataloging, pieces were being sold on black markets

around the world. Looting reached an all time high when a Han Dynasty candelabra

was sold in New York for 2.5 million dollars (Qing, "Three Gorges Dam, Yangtze

River, China.").

Works Cited

Ferraro, Vinnie. "China's Three Gorges Dam Social Consequences." China's

Three Gorges Dam Social Consequences. Mount Holyoke College, n.d. Web. 23 Jan.

2014.

<http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~vanti20m/classweb/website/socialconsequences.ht

ml>.

Qing, Dai. "Three Gorges Dam, Yangtze River, China." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 21

Jan. 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/itvs/greatwall/dam.html>.

See, Lisa. "Waters of Three Gorges Dam Will Wash Over World Culture."

CommonDreams.org. Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2003. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

<http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0608-02.htm>.