Cheryl Ward-Early Navigation and Trade in the Indian Ocean
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The Itzternutional Journal of Nuuticul Archaeology (2003) 32.1 : 124-125 doi: 10.1006/ijna.2003.1078 Early Navigation and Trade in the Indian Ocean Cheryl Ward Department of Anthropology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-777, USA he international congress ‘Early Navi- gation and Trade in the Indian Ocean’, held between 4 and 6 July 2002 in Ravenna, Italy, brought archaeologists together as a reed boat modelled after Bronze Age types neared completion in a nearby shipyard. Sponsored by the University of Bologna, the Fondazione Flaminia of Ravenna, and the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient, the meeting served as a forum for interdisciplinary discussion of the cultures and watercraft of the Indian Ocean. Maurizio Tosi, the primary organiser for the congress, opened with an overview of the region, followed by Tom Vosmer’s presentation of the evidence for and principles behind his 13 m long experimental reed boat. Excavations at Ras a1 Jinz in Oman provided the first bitumen frag- ments from full-sized boats more than a decade ago, and Vosmer has used those fragments to establish the materials (reeds, withies, reed mats, cordage, temper for the bitumen) and methods used by early Bronze Age boatbuilders. Conference participants also heard a first-hand account of the recent excavations and discoveries of Robert Carter in Kuwait, where boat models and barnacled bitumen fragments at As-Sabiyah near the head of the Persian Gulf date to between 5500 and 5300BC. Juris Zarins offered a stimu- lating discussion based on written records from the Ur-I11 Lagash dockyards, where 800 to 1000 boatwrights worked in about 2040BC. He also described the frankincense trade in Yemen, where hundreds of Neolithic sites can be found along riverbeds, and materials analysis work suggests frankincense production from individual regions may be traceable through chemical analysis. Serge Cleziou’s discussion of third millennium Oman focussed on the relationship between Ur and Susa D through copper mines and trade, and linked port sites at Um a1 Nar and a1 Abraq in the United Arab Emirates to Ras a1 Had in Oman. The link between Um a1 Nar and early Harappan peoples of 3200 to 2600BC, and the seagoing trade of the later Indus civilizations, were dis- cussed by Gregory Possehl. A stimulating paper about ancient Egyptian activity on the Red Sea, the westernmost extent of the Indian Ocean, as related to Punt, was offered by Rodolfo Fattovich, and was followed by a discussion of shipbuilding technology used by Egyptians at the time. Artefacts as indicators of contact and trade were discussed by Massimo Vidale and Peter Francis (beads), and by Sophie Mery, whose work on ceramics provides hints of carrying capacities for watercraft. Site reports from Steven Sidebotham (Berenike and other Egyptian sites of the Roman period), Alessandro de Maigret (first millennium BC Tamna), and Lucy Blue (Roman and mediaeval Quseir al-Qadim) showcased the wealth of untapped information in these arid, maritime sites, complemented by David Whitehouse’s overview of long-distance navi- gation in the first millennium AD at Ed-Dur (UAE) and Siraf (Iran), where Chinese ships are noted by the early 7th century AD. Other maritime ventures in the Indian Ocean included a discussion by Stefan0 Medas on ancient navigation, Hellenistic accounts of icthy- phagoi on the coast of Makran (Pakistan) by Oskar Nalesini, and Anna Spinelli’s suggestion that Ibn Battuta’s description of a ghost ship in the Maldives was likely to be a Chinese pirate or slave ship. A detailed presentation by Dionisius Agius focussed on 10th-century Islamic ships included in the geography of a1 Muqaddasi and relied on Agius’ ethnographic experience to illuminate the references. ~ ~ 1057-2414/03/010124+02 $30.0010
Transcript of Cheryl Ward-Early Navigation and Trade in the Indian Ocean
The Itzternutional Journal of Nuuticul Archaeology (2003) 32.1 : 124-125 doi: 10.1006/ijna.2003.1078
Early Navigation and Trade in the Indian Ocean
Cheryl Ward Department of Anthropology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-777, USA
he international congress ‘Early Navi- gation and Trade in the Indian Ocean’, held between 4 and 6 July 2002 in
Ravenna, Italy, brought archaeologists together as a reed boat modelled after Bronze Age types neared completion in a nearby shipyard. Sponsored by the University of Bologna, the Fondazione Flaminia of Ravenna, and the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient, the meeting served as a forum for interdisciplinary discussion of the cultures and watercraft of the Indian Ocean.
Maurizio Tosi, the primary organiser for the congress, opened with an overview of the region, followed by Tom Vosmer’s presentation of the evidence for and principles behind his 13 m long experimental reed boat. Excavations at Ras a1 Jinz in Oman provided the first bitumen frag- ments from full-sized boats more than a decade ago, and Vosmer has used those fragments to establish the materials (reeds, withies, reed mats, cordage, temper for the bitumen) and methods used by early Bronze Age boatbuilders.
Conference participants also heard a first-hand account of the recent excavations and discoveries of Robert Carter in Kuwait, where boat models and barnacled bitumen fragments at As-Sabiyah near the head of the Persian Gulf date to between 5500 and 5300BC. Juris Zarins offered a stimu- lating discussion based on written records from the Ur-I11 Lagash dockyards, where 800 to 1000 boatwrights worked in about 2040BC. He also described the frankincense trade in Yemen, where hundreds of Neolithic sites can be found along riverbeds, and materials analysis work suggests frankincense production from individual regions may be traceable through chemical analysis.
Serge Cleziou’s discussion of third millennium Oman focussed on the relationship between Ur
and Susa D through copper mines and trade, and linked port sites at Um a1 Nar and a1 Abraq in the United Arab Emirates to Ras a1 Had in Oman. The link between Um a1 Nar and early Harappan peoples of 3200 to 2600BC, and the seagoing trade of the later Indus civilizations, were dis- cussed by Gregory Possehl. A stimulating paper about ancient Egyptian activity on the Red Sea, the westernmost extent of the Indian Ocean, as related to Punt, was offered by Rodolfo Fattovich, and was followed by a discussion of shipbuilding technology used by Egyptians at the time.
Artefacts as indicators of contact and trade were discussed by Massimo Vidale and Peter Francis (beads), and by Sophie Mery, whose work on ceramics provides hints of carrying capacities for watercraft. Site reports from Steven Sidebotham (Berenike and other Egyptian sites of the Roman period), Alessandro de Maigret (first millennium BC Tamna), and Lucy Blue (Roman and mediaeval Quseir al-Qadim) showcased the wealth of untapped information in these arid, maritime sites, complemented by David Whitehouse’s overview of long-distance navi- gation in the first millennium AD at Ed-Dur (UAE) and Siraf (Iran), where Chinese ships are noted by the early 7th century AD.
Other maritime ventures in the Indian Ocean included a discussion by Stefan0 Medas on ancient navigation, Hellenistic accounts of icthy- phagoi on the coast of Makran (Pakistan) by Oskar Nalesini, and Anna Spinelli’s suggestion that Ibn Battuta’s description of a ghost ship in the Maldives was likely to be a Chinese pirate or slave ship. A detailed presentation by Dionisius Agius focussed on 10th-century Islamic ships included in the geography of a1 Muqaddasi and relied on Agius’ ethnographic experience to illuminate the references.
~ ~
1057-2414/03/010124+02 $30.0010
C. WARD: CONFERENCE REPORT
The conference is expected to become a biennial one, and its maritime focus on sites and tech- nologies of seagoing peoples in this important and
large region will be of interest to readers of this journal, as will the significant publication of its proceedings, currently being edited.
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