Congrès Mondial des Études sur le Moyen-Orient et l'Afrique du Nord

Barcelone du 19 au 24 Juillet 2010

· NOT_DEFINED institution: University of Exeter (UK)

· NOT_DEFINED organizer: Chiara Zazzaro and John P. Cooper

· NOT_DEFINED language: English

· NOT_DEFINED description: The panel aims to discuss the state of our knowledge of archaeological and traditional boats and ships of the western Indian Ocean, and of the transfer of boatbuilding traditions through time and space in the light of recent archaeological and ethnographic research conducted in the region.

The particular environment and the wind systems of the Indian Ocean stimulated long-distance sea-borne contact since the earliest times, contributing also to the formation of maritime communities different from those inland. The transfer of objects, people and ideas generated both common identities and cultural diversities among these coastal communities.
The study of boat technologies employed to cross the western Indian Ocean can explain some aspects of the development of long distance-contacts and how they came about. It also provides information on the transfer of knowledge and materials from different regions, and has the potential to elucidate some aspects of the formation of maritime identities among western Indian Ocean communities.
This panel aims to provide an opportunity to examine western Indian Ocean wooden boats in a broad perspective, employing a diachronic and a multidisciplinary approach. Data from maritime archaeology, experimental archaeology and ethnography are compared and discussed with the aim of better understanding the development of coastal communities in the western Indian Ocean.
Cheryl Ward will present an experimental archaeology project centred around the reconstruction of a 4000-year old Pharaonic boat to investigate navigating the Red Sea and examine how ancient mariners conducted long distance seagoing voyages.
Tom Vosmer, Luca Belfioretti, Eric Staples, and Alessandro Ghidoni will report on their successful reconstruction of a medieval Arab boat in Oman. The reconstruction was carried out by Indian boatbuilders and carpenters using traditional techniques, some of them still employed in parts of the Indian Ocean – proof of continuity with the past. It also testifies the recognised relevance of regional specializations in the Indian Ocean.
Lucy Blue of the University of Southampton has recently conducted systematic ethnographic research into the survival of dugout canoes in different regions of the southern Red Sea and India. Her comparative analysis of this boat type is providing new information on common traditions and transfer of technologies and materials in the area.
The MARES Project (University of Exeter) has recently engaged in a three-year project devoted to the systematic study of traditional Arab wooden boats of the southern Red Sea. Remaining examples are the last survivals of a tradition that is coming to a rapid end. The project aims to establish a typology for these boats on the basis of physical variations and nomenclature, according to regional differentiations and diverse local traditions. The project is also investigating the last evidence of boatbuilding activities and recording oral information on past maritime traditions through ethnographical interviews.
Comparing the results of research recently conducted by these ongoing projects, the panel intend to stimulate the discussion on continuity and discontinuity in the transfer of boat technologies, and to discuss common traditions and regional diversity of maritime costal communities of the western Indian Ocean.

Chair: Dionisius A Agius, University of Exeter, UK, MARES Project

Paper presenter: Cheryl Ward (Coastal Carolina University, USA), "5,000 years of trade and travel in the Red Sea"
The most ancient story of a shipwreck in all the world is set in the Red Sea, and hints of exotic contacts and exchange tantalize scholars of the pharaonic period. For thousands of years, ships have sailed the Red Sea with luxury cargoes, but until recently, the voyages existed only in texts and historic documents. Archaeological excavations of ships and harbors ranging from Middle Kingdom (c. 2000 BCE) ship timbers at Ayn Sokhna and Wadi Gawasis to the well preserved and scientifically investigated mid-18th century ship at Sadana Island, Egypt, and the anchorages at Gawasis, Quseir and Berenike. This lecture presents indirect and direct evidence for the luxury trade of the ancient and early modern corridor between east and west, featuring frankincense, fine ceramics, coffee, and more.

Paper presenter: Tom Vosmer, Luca Belfioretti, Eric Staples, Alessandro Ghidoni (Jewel of Muscat Project, Oman), "Reconstructing an Early Ninth-Century C.E. Shipwreck"
The discovery of an early ninth century sewn-plank ship, the only one of its kind ever found, enabled a project to recreate the vessel and sail it on a long-distance voyage. The reconstructed vessel, 18-metres long, displacing about 55 tons, was built in Oman, and will sail to Singapore in early 2010.
The construction of the vessel, supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oman, provided a unique opportunity to experiment with ninth-century techniques, tools and materials, and to document the entire process comprehensively and in detail.
The aims of the project are multifaceted, ranging from experimental archaeology, through research, cultural preservation, vocational training and igniting interest in and appreciation of national maritime heritage, to promoting international engagement and cooperation.
Analyses of the wreck remains, the fiber, cordage and timber used to build and repair the ship revealed that the ship had been built in the western Indian Ocean, but had traveled widely and been repaired in southeast Asia.
Our team are primarily concerned with the archaeological aspects of the project. We therefore attempted to follow what the archaeological, historical and ethnographic evidence indicated. But there was a caveat. The vessel was intended as a gift from His Majesty the Sultan to the people of Singapore, and the ministry declared “There is no room for failure.”
In constructing our vessel we were each day faced with technical and philosophical problems and questions. Firstly, why did the original vessel sink? Was it a design fault, or perhaps a structural failure? Why did the original ship builders use a particular method or material? What was the purpose of a specific feature? How does this methodology relate to our own experience?
This paper will examine the analysis of the wreck remains, the background research and its philosophy, the experiments with structure and materials, the construction of the vessel, highlighting the discussions and arguments made in guiding the development of the reconstruction, and finally the sailing and navigation of the vessel itself.

Paper presenter: Lucy Blue (University of Southampton), "Huris of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean – a recent survey"
This paper will draw on recent work conducted in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean into the construction, use and distribution of the huri log boat. Log boats or huri are known to have operated in the Indian Ocean/Red Sea region for at least two millennia (Periplus Maris Erythraei 15) and are currently found throughout the region. Boxhall (1989: 295) states ‘the small huri a canoe … is to be found on almost every coast of the Indian Ocean’. The origins of the word huri are believed to originally to have come from the Sanskrit word hoda, which was later known in Hindu as hōŗī (Glidden 1942: 72).
Since 2000 the University of Southampton has been undertaking a survey of the remaining huri of the region. The aim of our research is to determine the environmental and cultural width of these vessels in the context of their historical depth, in order to appreciate of their distribution, constructional variety and shape through time. This paper will report on the findings of this research and in particular reveal new evidence as to the origins of this ubiquitous Red Sea/Indian Ocean vessel.

Paper presenter: Dionisius A. Agius, John P. Cooper, Lucy Semaan, Chiara Zazzaro (The MARES Project, University of Exeter), "Between shell-first and skeleton-first: hull construction in southern Red Sea boatbuilding traditions"
Construction of wooden dhows on the southern littoral of the Red Sea has decreased rapidly in the past decade. Demand for such vessels has dwindled as fibreglass has taken hold as the principal medium for new boat construction. Indeed, the building of new wooden boats has ceased almost entirely in Yemen and Djibouti, where the MARES team has recently conducted fieldwork. Only repair work continues, and that on a limited number of remaining dhows. The MARES team has surveyed and documented the last of the wooden dhows; in addition it has recorded the voices of carpenters about their construction methods, as well as recording the terminology of boat typologies and boat parts. The presentation will discuss the MARES team's finds, and present a comparative discussion of dhow construction sequences, investigating how these shed light on wider notions of shell-first and skeleton-first methods of construction.