Cross-cultural maritime technological exchange in the first-millennium Indian Ocean

Authors

  • Tom Vosmer Western Australian Museum

Keywords:

Indian Ocean, Sewn-plank, Lashed-lug, Belitung, Phanom-Surin

Abstract

Extensive trade networks in the Indian Ocean generated contact among cultures and spheres of maritime technology across a huge geographical area. Inevitably, these networks resulted not only in exchange of foodstuffs, raw materials, luxury goods, spices, and manufactured goods, but also in cultural and religious concepts and technological knowledge and practices. With the intensity of maritime trade these exchanges engendered the borrowing of shipbuilding designs, materials, and methodologies and generated a certain hybridization of technology, design, and the ways in which ships were conceived. This hybridization is particularly evident in the Belitung and Phanom-Surin ships discovered in Indonesia and Thailand respectively (Flecker 2001; 2008; Jumpron 2019; Wongnai, Jumpron & Premjai 2016). While echoing shipbuilding practices from outside South-East Asia, they also incorporated materials and concepts from South-East Asia, and yet remain distinct from the dominant lashed-lug construction of the region. Using archaeological material from Oman and South-East Asia as well as ethnographic data from the western Indian Ocean, East Africa, India, Oman, Iran, and South-East Asia, this paper explores current archaeological and ethnographic shipbuilding information and raises some questions about the place of Belitung and Phanom-Surin in first-millennium shipbuilding practice.

References

Adams R.M. 1985. Designed flexibility in a sewn boat of the western Indian Ocean. Pages 289–302 in S. McGrail & E. Kentley (eds), Sewn plank boats. (British Archaeological Reports, International Series 276). Oxford.

Agius D. 2002. In the Wake of the Dhow. Reading: Garnet Publishing Limited.

Agius D. 2008. Classic ships of Islam. Leiden: Brill.

Belfioretti L. & Vosmer T. 2010. Al-Balīd ship timbers: Preliminary overview and comparisons. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 40: 111–118.

Blue L. 2006. Sewn boat timbers from the medieval port of Quseir al-Qadim on the Red Sea coast. Pages 277–283 in L. Blue, F. Hocker & A. Englert (eds), Connected by the sea: Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on boat and ship archaeology, Roskilde. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Brindley H.H. 1931. An extinct West African plank boat. The Mariner’s Mirror 17: 186–187.

Bruce J. 1813. Travels to discover the source of the Nile. (3rd edition). Edinburgh: Alexander Murray.

Chittick N. 1980. Sewn boats in the western Indian Ocean, and a survival in Somalia. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 9: 297–309.

Clark P., Green J., Vosmer T. & Santiago R. 1993. The Butuan Two boat known as a balangay in the National Museum, Manila, Philippines. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 22/2: 143–159.

Clark P., Green J.N., Vosmer T., Santiago R. & Mauro A. 1995. Interim report on the joint Australian-Philippines Butuan boat project. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 24/3: 177–188.

Cooper J., Ghidoni A., Zarraro C. & Ombrato L. 2020. Sewn boats in the Qatar Museums collection, Doha: Baggāras and kettuvallams as records of a western Indian Ocean technological tradition. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 0.0: 1–35. doi: 10.1111/1095-9270.12422.

De Kerchov R. 1961. International maritime dictionary. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company.

de Leeuwe R. 2005. Constructing sailing ships on the Swahili shores. Azania Archaeological Research in Africa 40/1: 107–113.

Devendra S. 2002. Pre-modern Sri Lankan ships. Pages 128–173 in D. Parkin & R. Barnes (eds), Ships and the development of maritime technology in the Indian Ocean. London: RoutledgeCurzon.

Facey W. 1979. Oman, a seafaring nation. Muscat: Ministry of National Heritage and Information.

Fenwick V. 2015. A Cognitive approach to extant boat structure in Goa, India. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 44/2: 388–409.

Flecker M. 2001. A Ninth-century AD Arab or Indian shipwreck in Indonesia: First evidence for direct trade with China. World Archaeology 32/ 3: 335–354.

Flecker M. 2008. A 9th-century Arab or Indian shipwreck in Indonesian waters: Addendum. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 37/2: 384–386.

Foster W. 1949. The Red Sea and adjacent countries at the close of the seventeenth century as described by Joseph Pitts, William Daniel and Charles Jacques Poncet. London: Hakluyt Society.

Ghidoni A. 2021. The ship timbers from the Islamic site of al-Balid: A case study of sewn-plank technology in the Indian Ocean. PhD thesis, University of Exeter. [Unpublished.]

Ghidoni A. & Vosmer T. 2021. Boats and ships of the Arabian Gulf and the Sea of Oman within an archaeological, historical and ethnographic context. Pages 957–989 in L. Jawad (ed.), The Arabian seas: Biodiversity, environmental challenges and conservation measures. ii. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Gibson-Hill C.A. 1952. Further notes on the old boat found at Pontian, in southern Pahang. Journal of the Malayan Branch, Royal Asiatic Society 25/1: 110–133.

Gilbert E. 1998. The mtepe: Regional trade and the late survival of sewn ships in East African waters. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 27: 43–50.

Grote P., Rugmai W., Ploymukda S., Boriphon B. & Jumpron P. 2021. Use of in situ silica bodies in identification of rope fibers from the Phanom-Surin shipwreck, Samut Sakhon, Thailand. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 13: Article No. 183 (https://rdcu.be/cy7bJ) doi https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01448-4.

Gulbrandsen Ø. 1979. Beachcraft development, Andhra Pradesh, India. Madras: Development of small-scale fisheries in the Bay of Bengal, RAS/040/SWE Project report IND/BCD/1.

Guy J. 2017. The Phanom Surin shipwreck, a Pahlavi inscription, and their significance for the history of early lower central Thailand. Journal of the Siam Society 105: 179–196.

Hornell J. 1941. The Sea-going mtepe and dáu of the Lamu archipelago. The Mariner’s Mirror 27/1: 54–68.

Horridge G.A. 1978. The Design of planked boats of the Moluccas. (Maritime Monographs and Reports, 38). London: National Maritime Museum.

Horridge G.A. 1981. The ancient planked boats of the islands east of Asia. Pages 241–258 in D. Howse (ed.), Five hundred years of nautical science 1400–1900. Proceedings of the Third International Reunion for the history of nautical science and hydrography. Greenwich, London: National Maritime Museum.

Horridge G.A. 1982. The Lashed-lug boat of the eastern archipelagoes, the Alcina MS and the Lomblen whaling boats. (Maritime Monographs and Reports, 54). London: National Maritime Museum.

Hourani G.F. 1995. Arab seafaring. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Jumpron P. 2019. Recovery of a lost Arab-styled ship at Phanom-Surin, the wetland excavation site in central Thailand. Pages 226–247 in A. Srisuchat & W. Giessler (eds), Ancient maritime cross-cultural exchanges – Archaeological research in Thailand. Bangkok: The Fine Arts Department, Ministry of Culture.

Kentley E. 1996. The sewn boats of India’s east coast. Pages 247–260 in H.P. Ray & J-F. Salles (eds), Tradition and archaeology. Early maritime contacts in the Indian Ocean. Singapore: Manohar Publishers & Distributers.

Kentley E. 2003. The Masula: A sewn plank surf boat of India’s eastern coast. Pages 120–166 in S. McGrail, L. Blue, E. Kentley & C. Palmer (eds), Boats of South Asia. London/New York: Routledge.

Lacsina L. 2015. The Butuan boats of the Philippines: Southeast Asian edge-joined and lashed-lug watercraft. Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology 39: 126–132.

Lacsina L. 2016. Examining pre-colonial Southeast Asian boatbuilding: An archaeological study of the Butuan Boats and the use of edge-joined planking in local and regional construction techniques. PhD thesis, Flinders University, Adelaide. https://flex.flinders.edu.au/file/58348c74-8c36-4b2e-a714-ec6fa70d790e/1/ThesisLacsina2016.pdf

Liebner H. 2014. The Siren of Cirebon: A tenth-century trading vessel lost in the Java Sea. PhD thesis, University of Leeds. https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/6912/1/SirenOfCirebonFinal.pdf

McGrail S., Blue L., Kentley E. & Palmer C. 2003. Boats of South Asia. London: RoutledgeCurzon.

Manguin P-Y. 1985. Sewn-plank craft of South-East Asia, a preliminary survey. Pages 319–343 in S. McGrail & E. Kentley (eds), Sewn plank boats, archaeological and ethnographic papers based on those presented to a conference at Greenwich in November, 1984. (BAR International Series 276). Greenwich/Oxford: National Maritime Museum and British Archaeological Reports.

Manguin P-Y. 1996. Southeast Asian shipping in the Indian Ocean during the 1st millennium AD. Pages 181–198 in H.P. Ray & J-F. Salles (eds), Tradition and archaeology. Early maritime contacts in the Indian Ocean. Lyon/New Delhi: Manohar/Maison de l’Orient méditerranéen/NISTADS.

Manguin P-Y. 2012. Asian ship-building traditions in the Indian Ocean at the dawn of European expansion. Pages 597–629 in O. Prakash (ed.), The Trading world of the Indian Ocean, 1500–1800. Calcutta: Centre for Studies in Civilisations, Project on History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilisation.

Manguin P-Y. 2019. Sewn boats of Southeast Asia: The stitched-plank and lashed-lug tradition. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 48/2: 400–415.

Mochtar A.S. 2018. The Seventh-century Punjulharjo boat from Indonesia: A study of the early Southeast Asian lashed-lug boatbuilding tradition. MA thesis, Flinders University, Adelaide. https://flex.flinders.edu.au/file/5b8a6d45-1c8d-4a10-9647-e24526ef1714/1/ThesisMochtar2018.pdf

Nicolle D. 1989. Shipping in Islamic art: Seventh through sixteenth century AD. American Neptune 49/3: 168–197.

Peacock D. & Blue L. (eds). 2011. Myos Hormos-Quseir al-Qadim Roman and Islamic port on the Red Sea coast. ii. The finds from the 1999–2003 excavations. (Southampton Monograph Series, 6). (British Archaeological Reports, International Series, 2286). Oxford: Archaeopress.

Polo M. 1993. The travels of Marco Polo. The complete Yule-Cordier edition. New York: Dover Publications.

Prins A.H.J. 1982. The mtepe of Lamu, Mombasa and the Zanzibar Sea. Paideuma 28: 85–100.

Prins A.H.J. 1986. A handbook of sewn boats. (Maritime Monographs and Reports, 59). Greenwich: National Maritime Museum.

Rieth E. 2010. Tout les bateaux du monde. Paris: Musée national de la Marine.

Severin T. 1985. Construction of the Omani boom Sohar. Pages 279–287 in S. McGrail & E. Kentley (eds), Sewn plank boats. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports Series 276.

Shaikh Z. 2014. Boats in Goa. Pages 1–19 in H. Selin (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the history of science, technology, and medicine in non-Western cultures. Dordrecht: Springer Dordrecht.

Shaikh Z. 2019. Re-sewing the sewn: An ethnographic record of repair and reuse of sewn-plank river boats in Goa, India. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 48/2: 377–386.

Shaikh Z., Tripati S. & Shinde V. 2012. A study of the sewn-plank boats of Goa, India. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 41/1: 148–157.

Sheriff A., Abdallah K. & Mshenga A. 2006. The mtepe ‘Shungwaya’ sails again. Ziff Journal: 35–44.

Staples E. 2019. Sewn-plank reconstructions of Oman: Construction and documentation. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 48/2: 314–334.

Staples E. & Blue L. 2019. Archaeological, historical, and ethnographic approaches to the study of sewn boats: Past, present, and future. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 48/2: 269–285.

Steffy J.R. 1995. Ancient scantlings, the projection and control of Mediterranean hull shapes. Pages 417–428 in H. Tzalas (ed.), Tropis III. Athens: Hellenic Institute for the Preservation of Nautical Tradition.

Suryanarayana M. 1977. Marine fisherfolk of north-east coastal Andhra Pradesh. Calcutta: Anthropological Survey of India.

Than C. 2006. Myanmar report. Jakarta: ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information, Symposium & Publication on Maritime and Waterways.

Tripati S. 1997. Traditional boat-building and navigational techniques of southern Orissa. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka [N.S.] 42: 15–27.

Tyrell D. 2019. The Strength and flexibility of sewn boat assemblies. Undergraduate thesis, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University, Perth. [Unpublished.]

Varadarajan L. 1993. Indian boat building traditions. The ethnological evidence. Topoi 3/2: 547–568.

Varadarajan L. 1998. Sewn boats of Lakshadweep. Singapore: National Institute of Oceanography.

Vosmer T. 1993. The yatra dhoni of Sri Lanka. Bulletin of the Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology 17/2: 37–42.

Vosmer T. 1997. Indigenous fishing craft of Oman. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 26/3: 217–235.

Vosmer T. 2019. Sewn boats in Oman and the Indian Ocean. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 48/2: 302–319.

Weismann N., Dziamski P. & Haar L. 2019. The Kambārī in the Museum of the Frankincense Land, Salalah, Oman. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 48/2: 342–359.

Wongnai P., Jumpron P. & Premjai K. 2016. Study of Phanom-Surin shipwreck. Bangkok: 1st Regional Office, Fine Arts Department, Ministry of Culture.

Yule H. & Burnell A.C. 1996. Hobson-Jobson, the Anglo-Indian dictionary. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Ltd.

Zeiner P.B. & Rasmussen K. 1958. Report No. 1 to the Government of India on fishing boats. FAO|ETPA. Rept. No. 945.

Published

28/07/2022

How to Cite

Vosmer, T. (2022). Cross-cultural maritime technological exchange in the first-millennium Indian Ocean. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 51, 433–448. Retrieved from https://archaeopresspublishing.com/ojs/index.php/PSAS/article/view/638