The Belitung Shipwreck: A 9th-Century Tang Dynasty Treasure Trove and the Maritime Silk Road
The Belitung wreck, or Tang shipwreck, is an Arab dhow that foundered on a reef off Belitung Island in what is now Indonesia in approximately 826-885 CE. The ship is believed to have been returning from China, possibly from the port of Guangzhou, and may have been on its way to Basra in today’s Iraq. Discovered in 1998 about 50 feet below the surface, the wreck is highly important for the information it has provided about traditional Arabian shipbuilding techniques, Tang dynasty ceramics, and ninth-century maritime trade routes between China and the western shores of the Indian Ocean.
Fishermen had been diving for the echinoderms known as sea cucumbers about one mile off the small island of Belitung, which lies between the much larger islands of Sumatra and Borneo, when they discovered ceramic fragments and a large jar containing unbroken bowls. Due to their distinct colors, these wares were identified as having been manufactured in Hunan Province, China, near the end of the powerful Tang Dynasty (618906 CE). Concerned with looting but unable to mount a professional recovery project itself, the Indonesian government commissioned the German salvaging company Seabed Explorations to excavate the wreck. With the assistance of archaeologist Michael Flecker, the company worked on the site in September and October 1998 and resumed its recovery operation in April 1999 after the end of the monsoon season.
Seabed Explorations recovered more than 60,000 ceramic, gold, and silver items—the largest assemblage of Tang Dynasty artifacts ever discovered. After undergoing several years of conservation, most were sold to the Sentosa Leisure Group of Singapore and subsequently to the government of Singapore itself. Salvors (salvagers) also found lead ballast ingots, resins and spices, and a small quantity of Chinese coins. The ship itself, which may have carried 25 tons of cargo, was a dhow nearly 60 feet long and appears to have been similar to a modern Omani vessel known as a baitl qarib. Its hull was made of wood indigenous to Africa and India, and its planks had been stitched together with what appeared to be coir (coconut fiber). The wreck is the earliest Arab ship to be excavated to date, and the first to be discovered in Southeast Asian waters.
Based partly on the evidence of the Belitung wreck, researchers believe that a sea route—a Maritime Silk Road—linking East Asia with the Near and Middle East had been established by the middle of the ninth century. In order to take advantage of the seasonal monsoon winds, ships would have sailed eastward across the Indian Ocean in the summer and returned in the winter. Thus, a ship carrying Chinese goods would have rounded the Malay Peninsula and sailed up the Strait of Malacca before turning west into the Indian Ocean. However, the wreck’s location in relation to this route is difficult to understand, as it was found nearly 400 miles southeast of the tip of the peninsula. Researchers have speculated that it may have been making for a port farther south on the island of Java or following a secondary route to the Moluccas in eastern Indonesia.
Although the Smithsonian Institution planned to exhibit artifacts from the wreck in its Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in 2011, it canceled the exhibit under pressure from professional archaeological groups. Despite the involvement of an archaeologist in the excavation, the groups objected to the show because the artifacts had been recovered by commercial treasure hunters over too short a period of time, leading to the loss of valuable information. Those connected with the recovery countered that such an approach is impractical in underdeveloped parts of the world.
A modern vessel based on the Belitung wreck—the Jewel of Muscat—was built in Muscat, Oman, with the help of the governments of Oman and Singapore. After a voyage that was interrupted by calms and a period in the dry dock to remove algae and barnacles, the Jewel of Muscat was put on display at the Maritime Experiential Museum in Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore. Grove Koger.
FURTHER READING:Flecker, Michael. 2001. “A Ninth-Century AD Arab or Indian Shipwreck in Indonesia: First Evidence for Direct Trade with China.” World Archaeology 32 (3): 335-54.Krahl, Regina and Alison Effeny. 2010. Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds.
Washington, D.C.: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
Worrall, Simon. 2009. “Made in China.” National Geographic ( June): 112-22.
Worrall, Simon. 2014. The Lost Dhow: A Discovery from the Maritime Silk Route. Toronto, Ontario: Aga Khan Museum.
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