Michael Flecker

A Ninth-Century Arab or Indian
Shipwreck in Indonesia
4 Green et al. 1998, 283. In
traditional Chinese shipbuilding
circular recesses are carved into
the scarf joint, often in the configuration
of a star constellation,
for placing coins and mirrors as a
symbol of good-luck or longevity.
Two shallow circular recesses have been cut
into the upper surface of the keelson. They are
5 and 5.5 cm in diameter, only 1.5 cm deep, and
have remnants of lime compound within. They
closely resemble good-luck baosongkong found
on the keel scarf joints of Chinese ships. 4 However,
they are not at a scarf joint, and there is no
evidence that this practice was followed by Arab
shipbuilders. They could have formed the base
of light stanchions, a theory that is reinforced
by another timber found loose on the site, which
otherwise proves enigmatic.
This loose timber was found some 5 m to port of
the aforementioned piece, however it may have
been moved from anywhere on the site during
the first season of excavation (fig. 11). It is 2.38
m long, 24 cm sided, and 21 cm moulded, and
very similar in shape to the exposed keelson,
particularly the scarf-type end (fig. 12). But in
this case the scarf at the end of the loose timber
is rotationally offset 90°. Notches for frames can
be used to orient the timber. They occur on both
sides of one surface only, which is presumably
the underside. Strangely the notches are considerably
larger on one side than on the other,
implying a degree of asymmetry in the framing.
The upper surface displays two shallow circular
recesses, slightly larger than those on the keelson,
with diameters of 6 and 6.5 cm respectively from
the scarf end. One of them is full of lime compound.
The original location and function of the loose
timber must be deduced. The only area of the
ship’s centreline that appeared to have been
Fig. 11 Stringer found loose on the site (Drawing: M. Flecker).
Fig. 12 The scarf-type end of the loose stringer
(Photograph: M. Flecker).
10 A Ninth-Century Arab or Indian Shipwreck in Indonesia