AsianScientist (May 30, 2018) – In a study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, scientists have discovered that an important shipwreck that occurred in the Java Sea is a century older than previously thought.
Centuries ago, a ship sank off the coast of Indonesia. The wooden hull disintegrated over time, leaving only a treasure trove of cargo. The ship had been carrying thousands of ceramics and luxury goods for trade, and they remained on the ocean floor until the 1980s when the wreck was discovered by fishermen.
In the years since, archeologists have been studying artifacts retrieved from the shipwreck to piece together where the ship was from and when it departed. In this study, scientists led by Dr. Lisa Niziolek, an archaeologist at the Field Museum in Chicago, used the equivalent of a ‘Made in China’ label on a piece of pottery to reevaluate when the ship went down and how it fits in with China’s history.
“Initial investigations in the 1990s dated the shipwreck to the mid- to late 13th century, but we’ve found evidence that it’s probably a century older than that,” said Niziolek. “Eight hundred years ago, someone put a label on these ceramics that essentially says ‘Made in China’—because of the particular place mentioned, we’re able to date this shipwreck better.”
The ship was carrying ceramics marked with an inscription that might indicate they were made in Jianning Fu, a government district in China. But after the invasion of the Mongols around 1278, the area was reclassified as Jianning Lu. The slight change in the name tipped Niziolek and her colleagues off that the shipwreck may have occurred earlier than the late 1200s, as early as 1162.
Additionally, ceramics were not the only cargo onboard. The ship was also carrying elephant tusks for use in medicine or art and sweet-smelling resin for use in incense or for caulking ships. Both materials were critical to re-dating the wreck.
The resins and the tusks come from living things, and all living things contain carbon. A type of carbon atom called 14C is unstable and decays relatively steadily over time. Scientists can use the amount of 14C in a sample to determine how old it is. This analysis, known as radiocarbon dating, had been done decades ago and pointed to the shipwreck being about 700-750 years old. However, analytical techniques have improved, and the scientists wanted to see if the date still held true.
The amount of decayed carbon found in the resins and tusks revealed that the cargo was older than previously thought. When taken together with the place name inscribed on the ceramics, stylistic analysis of ceramics from known time periods and input from experts overseas, the researchers concluded that the shipwreck was indeed older than previously thought—approximately 800 years old.
“This was a time when Chinese merchants became more active in maritime trade, more reliant upon oversea routes than on the overland Silk Road,” said Niziolek. “The shipwreck occurred at a time of important transition.”
The article can be found at: Niziolek et al. (2018) Revisiting the Date of the Java Sea Shipwreck from Indonesia.
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Source: Field Museum of Natural History.
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