3. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION OF THE 10TH CENTURY INTAN SHIPWRECK - PROJECT SUMMARY.
Michael Flecker, PhD student, Southeast Asian Studies Programme, National University of Singapore

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In 1997 I directed the archaeological excavation of a shipwreck that had been inadvertently discovered by fishermen in the Java Sea. The excavation team recovered thousands of artefacts that are remarkable in their context and diversity. The ship itself has all but disappeared. However, fragments of wood were sufficient to yield important information on timber species and construction techniques. Carbon dating, stylistic analysis of ceramics from the wreck, and a terminus ante quem of AD 918 provided by Chinese coins, places the wreck in the early to mid 10th century. It is known as the Intan Wreck , due to its close proximity to the Intan oil field.

Chinese ceramics form a large part of the cargo. The shapes are generally utilitarian. Yue and Yue-type ware includes dishes, bowls, covered boxes, jars, ewers, and a pillow. Fine whiteware bowls, dishes, and ewers may originate from the northern kilns of Ding or Xing. Covered boxes and small dishes with a distinct quingbai glaze may be very early examples from Jingdezhen. Over half of the ceramics consist of simple brown-glazed pots, with and without handles, that could be from Guangdong. Interestingly, there is also a considerable quantity of Thai earthenware in the form of kendis and bottles, as well as shards of Middle-Eastern ware with a deep turquoise glaze.

The ceramics cargo alone suggests that the ship had called at an entrepot port. The non-ceramic artefacts place this supposition beyond all doubt. Chinese products include coins, bronze mirrors, silver ingots, and iron ware. Several tonnes of pyramidal tin ingots in all likelihood came from the rich mines on the Isthmus of Kra. Hundreds of dome shaped ingots in all were originally thought to be copper, but have since been analysed as bronze. Bronze is not a naturally occurring alloy, so they are not the product of any mine. They were either produced as an alloy, or result from melted down scrap bronze. Indeed large chunks of bronze statuary also formed part of the cargo, and was almost certainly destined for reworking. Worked copper alloy artefacts are remarkably diverse; khala head door knockers, vajra, ghanta, khakkhara, a solid ox head, statuettes, stupika moulds, seals, scale weights and bars, trays, mirrors and mirror handles, and a wide array of door ornaments. There is a smattering of gold jewellery, including seal rings, and several gold sandalwood-flower coins. Non-metallic artefacts included aromatic resin, ivory, teeth, bones, grind stones, sharpening stones, glass ware, glass beads, and many candlenuts.

Wood species identification suggests that the ship was constructed in the Indonesian archipelago. A wooden dowel found slotted into a fragment of the ship's timber is indicative of dowel edge-fastening of hull planks. These clues, combined with archaeological evidence for this period, suggest that the Intan ship was constructed by the lashed-lug technique. Lashed-lug vessels complete with cargo are otherwise unknown.

The cargo is strongly suggestive of loading at a Srivijayan entrepot port, possibly Palembang. From the location of the shipwreck it was heading to a port in Java. This conjecture is supported by the high metal content of the cargo, both in worked and raw form. Java is largely deficient in viable metal deposits.