Sewn Boats of Southeast Asia: the stitched‐plank and lashed‐lug tradition

Abstract

This article updates research into the sewn‐boat traditions of Southeast Asia with recent finds that provide evidence of the transition from stitched planks with lashed‐lug frames to planks fastened with dowels and locked dowels alongside lashed‐lug frames. The differences between Southeast Asian, East Asian, and Indo‐Arabic boatbuilding are discussed and the meaning of anomalies, such as the Maldivian dhonis, examined. Considering the known history of trade and exchange throughout the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, the lack of hybridization between boatbuilding traditions is noted.

Archaeological, Historical, and Ethnographic Approaches to the Study of Sewn Boats: past, present, and future

“…New discoveries expand our understanding of the detail of sewn‐boat construction, providing insight into the extended geographical reach of sewn boats, and highlighting how techniques have changed over time in different regions of the world. Besides exciting new site‐specific discoveries, a number of comprehensive overviews such as the work of Vosmer (, ), Pomey and Boetto () and Manguin (), also provide a more refined appreciation of the place of sewn boats within regional boatbuilding traditions. At the same time, research still references the pioneering work of the early scholars, and in particular the approach adopted by Prins that presented the first comprehensive evaluation of sewn boats, drawing on ethnographic, historical, archaeological, and experimental‐reconstruction perspectives, determining geographical spread, taxonomy of boatbuilding, and sewing technologies, comparing approaches, diversity, and coherence through time (Prins, : 28, table 2).…”

“…The sewn‐boat traditions of Southeast Asian craft in both the Indian Ocean and South China Sea have been well documented, predominantly by Manguin (, ). An up‐to‐date summary of our current knowledge with respect to ‘sewn’ boats of Southeast Asia both stitched and lashed, is presented in this volume (Manguin, ), so there is no need to elaborate further here. However, it is worth noting that archaeological evidence supports the identification of sewn and lashed‐lug boats from the region, specifically the South China Seas from the 3rd–4th century AD.…”

“…The archaeological evidence provides further information with respect to the variety of sewn‐boat construction across the breadth of the Indian Ocean, but is also disparate in scope. New discoveries, such as the 9th‐century‐AD Phanom‐Surin shipwreck in Thailand (Jumprom, ; Guy, ), research conducted at Butuan in the Philippines (see Lacsina, ; Manguin, ), and find of Islamic sewn‐boat timbers recycled in buildings at the site of al‐Balīd, Salalah, Oman (Ghidoni, forthcoming), suggest other sewn boats exist, but have yet to be found. Despite these, current evidence is limited.…”

Sewn Boats in Oman and the Indian Ocean

“…The contemporary Phanom‐Surin vessel has not been examined thoroughly enough yet to determine which, if any, system of doweling was used, but on initial inspection there seem to be no dowels. This is rather surprising, given the ubiquitous use of edge doweling in the lashed‐lug tradition of ship construction of Southeast Asia (Manguin, : 611, ) means it would have been a well‐known system to local shipbuilders.…”

Use of in situ silica bodies in identification of rope fibers from the Phanom-Surin shipwreck, Samut Sakhon, Thailand

“…The coordinates are 13° 33′ 24.1" N 100° 23′ 29.9" E ± 3 m (measured on location with a GPS Garmin Etrex). The ship, named the Phanom-Surin shipwreck after the owners of the land, was referred to as an "Arab-styled ship" or "dhow" (Guy 2017;Jumprom 2019) or "Arabo-Indian vessel" (Manguin 2019). Parts of the shipwreck recovered include 17.65 m of the keelson, 2 round masts, and planks of hull stitched or sewn together with fiber ropes (Fig.…”