Speaker
Description
A wreck with its entire cargo was discovered in 2004 in the Java Sea off the town of Cirebon. Chinese coins found on board helped to date the shipwreck to the 10th century. The main cargo consisted of iron ore, tin and silver ingots and ceramics from China and present-day Thailand. The accompanying cargo consisted of semi-precious stones, objects made of gold and other metals, glass beads of different origin (Egypt, Iran, India and Sri Lanka). The wreck itself has been the subject of a thesis, and the ceramics were discussed in several publications. However, no in-depth study was made of the silver ingots. This presentation aims to establish a typology based on the excavated material and to compare it with historical sources on the production of ingots in China and their circulation in Southeast Asia.
