From the Jakarta Post:
Ancient boat reveals shipbuilding skills of Java’s seafarers
Suherdjoko , The Jakarta Post , Rembang, Central Java Fri, 07/10/2009 11:49 AM Java Brew
Historians have long wondered just how Indonesians in the 6th and 7th centuries built their boats. A recent archaeological discovery sheds some light on the mystery.
In July last year, an ancient boat, measuring 15.6 meters long and 4 meters wide was discovered in Punjulharjo village, Rembang district, in Rembang regency.
A team from the Yogyakarta Archaeology Center made a detailed study of the site, about 200 meters inland from the Java Sea coastline, from June 17 to 26 this year.
The boat, approximately 1,200 years old, was found buried near the Central Java northern coastline, with its bow lying to the west and its stern in the east. Head of Punjulharjo village Nursalim said eight local residents had stumbled across the ancient relic while making a pond.
“The land was originally planted with coconuts, followed by secondary crops,” he told The Jakarta Post. “But as the soil was not fertile enough, they decided to make a pond. That’s when they noticed the buried boat, its main part still in its whole form, as they dug deeper.”
According to the chairman of the Yogyakarta archaeology team, Novida Abbas, the ancient boat is the most complete ever found in Indonesia. “So far we have only got wooden planks and other separate pieces. The discovery in Rembang is 50 percent intact,” Novida said. “We can see the actual shape of the boat and its construction technology.”
Novida estimates the boat could hold 30 people. Its skeleton remains complete, including its sides, bottom, curved ribs (to support the sides), stringers (to fasten the ribs) and wooden pegs, as well as palm-fiber ropes to fasten the ribs to knobs on the inside of the sides. There are also rattan and bamboo items.
Priyatno Hadi, a team member and archaeology graduate from Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University, said the main body of the boat was unbroken. The hull was built using a very simple method that did not require any metal components.
“Planks were first arranged to form an arc and then the curved wooden ribs were placed in parallel rows from the stern to the bow. Thereafter, they were fastened and strengthened with wooden pegs,” he added, showing the thumb-sized pegs.
Twelve of the boat’s 17 ribs are still joined to its flanks, with their palm-fiber ropes still partly tied in their knots. Unusually there are also L-shaped planks in the stern – with those in the bow probably having been lost – for reinforcement due to the palm-fiber rope holes.
Missing are the upper parts of the boat and some parts of the bow, Novida said. “The entire boat may have been larger than what has been found today. Its age of 12 centuries and its almost complete state provide good material for more comprehensive research. So we will finally have an idea of what Indonesia’s ancient boats looked like without having to speculate much. This finding gives us a good idea.”
The team sent samples of the palm fiber to ancient vessel specialist Prof. Pierre Yves Manguin in France to determine the boat’s age. Manguin is also director of the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient research institute and is now studying antique ships and boats in Southeast Asia and East Asia. He passed on the samples for examination at the Beta Analytic Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory in Miami in the United States.
Laboratory test results showed the boat was used sometime during 670–780 A.D. It was a merchant boat used toward the end of the Hindu Mataram kingdom in Java and Sriwijaya kingdom in Sumatra. This model was commonly used by traders in Java, Madura and Sumatra in those days.
Novida explained that the archaeology center made an initial inspection soon after the discovery was reported, only undertaking a more thorough study in June 2009. The old boat is now being stored in a building provided by the Hasyim Djojohadikusumo Foundation, which helps preserve the country’s cultural heritage.
The timber used for the planks to form the sides of the hull, each 7 centimeters thick, comes from different species, some teak and others mangrove. All the stringers are made from teak.
“We haven’t yet delved deeper into the boat’s materials,” Novida said. “We will conduct further research.”
Priyatno Hadi added that boat builders of that era used resin and gelam shrub fiber to fill the gaps between planks to keep the boat watertight. The team also found 100 pieces of earthenware, two lead rings believed to have served to bind fishing nets, coconut shells for food or drinks, glass-like bamboo tubes and a wooden stick 50-cm long. The objects may lead to conclusions on how these people lived, their level of technology and their daily lives.
Punjulharjo village head Nursalim displayed some of the other items the locals had found in the boat, including a carved stone head, bones, clay pitcher spouts and a stick. The archaeological team doubts if all the artifacts originated in the boat because the wooden stick turned out to be modern.
However, they will study them further because the female head image resembles ones discovered on former sites of the Majapahit kingdom.
Following the study, the ancient boat was again submerged into water as a way of safeguarding it.
The structure sheltering the boat is now encircled by bamboo fences so people visiting the site can only look at it from outside the barriers.
“We are planning to reconstruct the boat and later make its replica,” Novida said. “In this way, anyone wishing to look at the boat can have a more detailed model of the relic.”
Nursalim said he hoped the boat would remain in the shore area.
“Our village people have agreed to make this area a tourist destination,” he said. “We will protect the boat so let it just stay here. We don’t want to have it moved to another place, as we would get no benefit from it, leaving this area with only the memory of being a boat village.”
Friday, July 10, 2009
1,200-Year-Old Boat Uncovered in Central Java
From the Jakarta Post:
Ancient boat reveals shipbuilding skills of Java’s seafarers
Suherdjoko , The Jakarta Post , Rembang, Central Java Fri, 07/10/2009 11:49 AM Java Brew
Historians have long wondered just how Indonesians in the 6th and 7th centuries built their boats. A recent archaeological discovery sheds some light on the mystery.
In July last year, an ancient boat, measuring 15.6 meters long and 4 meters wide was discovered in Punjulharjo village, Rembang district, in Rembang regency.
A team from the Yogyakarta Archaeology Center made a detailed study of the site, about 200 meters inland from the Java Sea coastline, from June 17 to 26 this year.
The boat, approximately 1,200 years old, was found buried near the Central Java northern coastline, with its bow lying to the west and its stern in the east. Head of Punjulharjo village Nursalim said eight local residents had stumbled across the ancient relic while making a pond.
“The land was originally planted with coconuts, followed by secondary crops,” he told The Jakarta Post. “But as the soil was not fertile enough, they decided to make a pond. That’s when they noticed the buried boat, its main part still in its whole form, as they dug deeper.”
According to the chairman of the Yogyakarta archaeology team, Novida Abbas, the ancient boat is the most complete ever found in Indonesia. “So far we have only got wooden planks and other separate pieces. The discovery in Rembang is 50 percent intact,” Novida said. “We can see the actual shape of the boat and its construction technology.”
Novida estimates the boat could hold 30 people. Its skeleton remains complete, including its sides, bottom, curved ribs (to support the sides), stringers (to fasten the ribs) and wooden pegs, as well as palm-fiber ropes to fasten the ribs to knobs on the inside of the sides. There are also rattan and bamboo items.
Priyatno Hadi, a team member and archaeology graduate from Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University, said the main body of the boat was unbroken. The hull was built using a very simple method that did not require any metal components.
“Planks were first arranged to form an arc and then the curved wooden ribs were placed in parallel rows from the stern to the bow. Thereafter, they were fastened and strengthened with wooden pegs,” he added, showing the thumb-sized pegs.
Twelve of the boat’s 17 ribs are still joined to its flanks, with their palm-fiber ropes still partly tied in their knots. Unusually there are also L-shaped planks in the stern – with those in the bow probably having been lost – for reinforcement due to the palm-fiber rope holes.
Missing are the upper parts of the boat and some parts of the bow, Novida said. “The entire boat may have been larger than what has been found today. Its age of 12 centuries and its almost complete state provide good material for more comprehensive research. So we will finally have an idea of what Indonesia’s ancient boats looked like without having to speculate much. This finding gives us a good idea.”
The team sent samples of the palm fiber to ancient vessel specialist Prof. Pierre Yves Manguin in France to determine the boat’s age. Manguin is also director of the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient research institute and is now studying antique ships and boats in Southeast Asia and East Asia. He passed on the samples for examination at the Beta Analytic Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory in Miami in the United States.
Laboratory test results showed the boat was used sometime during 670–780 A.D. It was a merchant boat used toward the end of the Hindu Mataram kingdom in Java and Sriwijaya kingdom in Sumatra. This model was commonly used by traders in Java, Madura and Sumatra in those days.
Novida explained that the archaeology center made an initial inspection soon after the discovery was reported, only undertaking a more thorough study in June 2009. The old boat is now being stored in a building provided by the Hasyim Djojohadikusumo Foundation, which helps preserve the country’s cultural heritage.
The timber used for the planks to form the sides of the hull, each 7 centimeters thick, comes from different species, some teak and others mangrove. All the stringers are made from teak.
“We haven’t yet delved deeper into the boat’s materials,” Novida said. “We will conduct further research.”
Priyatno Hadi added that boat builders of that era used resin and gelam shrub fiber to fill the gaps between planks to keep the boat watertight. The team also found 100 pieces of earthenware, two lead rings believed to have served to bind fishing nets, coconut shells for food or drinks, glass-like bamboo tubes and a wooden stick 50-cm long. The objects may lead to conclusions on how these people lived, their level of technology and their daily lives.
Punjulharjo village head Nursalim displayed some of the other items the locals had found in the boat, including a carved stone head, bones, clay pitcher spouts and a stick. The archaeological team doubts if all the artifacts originated in the boat because the wooden stick turned out to be modern.
However, they will study them further because the female head image resembles ones discovered on former sites of the Majapahit kingdom.
Following the study, the ancient boat was again submerged into water as a way of safeguarding it.
The structure sheltering the boat is now encircled by bamboo fences so people visiting the site can only look at it from outside the barriers.
“We are planning to reconstruct the boat and later make its replica,” Novida said. “In this way, anyone wishing to look at the boat can have a more detailed model of the relic.”
Nursalim said he hoped the boat would remain in the shore area.
“Our village people have agreed to make this area a tourist destination,” he said. “We will protect the boat so let it just stay here. We don’t want to have it moved to another place, as we would get no benefit from it, leaving this area with only the memory of being a boat village.”
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