How Java's Seafarers Built Their Boats in the 6th and 7th Centuries

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Ancient Boat Reveals Shipbuilding Skills of Java’s Seafarers
Suherdjoko , The Jakarta Post ,  Rembang, Central Java
          
Historians have long wondered just how Indonesians in the 6th and 7th centuries built their boats. A recent archaeological discovery sheds some light on the mystery.

In July last year, an ancient boat, measuring 15.6 meters long and 4 meters wide was discovered in Punjulharjo village, Rembang district, in Rembang regency. A team from the Yogyakarta Archaeology Center made a detailed study of the site, about 200 meters inland from the Java Sea coastline, from June 17 to 26 this year.


Ancient mariner: A member of the Yogyakarta Archaeology Team works on the site of a 1,200-year-old boat uncovered in Rembang, Central Java. (JP/Suherdjoko)

The boat, approximately 1,200 years old, was found buried near the Central Java northern coastline, with its bow lying to the west and its stern in the east. Head of Punjulharjo village Nursalim said eight local residents had stumbled across the ancient relic while making a pond.

“The land was originally planted with coconuts, followed by secondary crops,” he told The Jakarta Post. “But as the soil was not fertile enough, they decided to make a pond. That’s when they noticed the buried boat, its main part still in its whole form, as they dug deeper.”

According to the chairman of the Yogyakarta archaeology team, Novida Abbas, the ancient boat is the most complete ever found in Indonesia. “So far we have only got wooden planks and other separate pieces. The discovery in Rembang is 50 percent intact,” Novida said. “We can see the actual shape of the boat and its construction technology.”

Novida estimates the boat could hold 30 people. Its skeleton remains complete, including its sides, bottom, curved ribs (to support the sides), stringers (to fasten the ribs) and wooden pegs, as well as palm-fiber ropes to fasten the ribs to knobs on the inside of the sides. There are also rattan and bamboo items.

Priyatno Hadi, a team member and archaeology graduate from Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University, said the main body of the boat was unbroken. The hull was built using a very simple method that did not require any metal components.

“Planks were first arranged to form an arc and then the curved wooden ribs were placed in parallel rows from the stern to the bow. Thereafter, they were fastened and strengthened with wooden pegs,” he added, showing the thumb-sized pegs.

Twelve of the boat’s 17 ribs are still joined to its flanks, with their palm-fiber ropes still partly tied in their knots. Unusually there are also L-shaped planks in the stern – with those in the bow probably having been lost – for reinforcement due to the palm-fiber rope holes.

Missing are the upper parts of the boat and some parts of the bow, Novida said. “The entire boat may have been larger than what has been found today. Its age of 12 centuries and its almost complete state provide good material for more comprehensive research. So we will finally have an idea of what Indonesia’s ancient boats looked like without having to speculate much. This finding gives us a good idea.”

The team sent samples of the palm fiber to ancient vessel specialist Prof. Pierre Yves Manguin in France to determine the boat’s age. Manguin is also director of the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient research institute and is now studying antique ships and boats in Southeast Asia and East Asia. He passed on the samples for examination at the Beta Analytic Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory in Miami in the United States. Laboratory test results showed the boat was used sometime during 670–780 A.D. It was a merchant boat used toward the end of the Hindu Mataram kingdom in Java and Sriwijaya kingdom in Sumatra. This model was commonly used by traders in Java, Madura and Sumatra in those days.

Novida explained that the archaeology center made an initial inspection soon after the discovery was reported, only undertaking a more thorough study in June 2009. The old boat is now being stored in a building provided by the Hasyim Djojohadikusumo Foundation, which helps preserve the country’s cultural heritage.

The timber used for the planks to form the sides of the hull, each 7 centimeters thick, comes from different species, some teak and others mangrove. All the stringers are made from teak.

“We haven’t yet delved deeper into the boat’s materials,” Novida said. “We will conduct further research.”

Priyatno Hadi added that boat builders of that era used resin and gelam shrub fiber to fill the gaps between planks to keep the boat watertight. The team also found 100 pieces of earthenware, two lead rings believed to have served to bind fishing nets, coconut shells for food or drinks, glass-like bamboo tubes and a wooden stick 50-cm long. The objects may lead to conclusions on how these people lived, their level of technology and their daily lives.

Punjulharjo village head Nursalim displayed some of the other items the locals had found in the boat, including a carved stone head, bones, clay pitcher spouts and a stick. The archaeological team doubts if all the artifacts originated in the boat because the wooden stick turned out to be modern. However, they will study them further because the female head image resembles ones discovered on former sites of the Majapahit kingdom.

Following the study, the ancient boat was again submerged into water as a way of safeguarding it. The structure sheltering the boat is now encircled by bamboo fences so people visiting the site can only look at it from outside the barriers.

“We are planning to reconstruct the boat and later make its replica,” Novida said. “In this way, anyone wishing to look at the boat can have a more detailed model of the relic.”

Nursalim said he hoped the boat would remain in the shore area.

“Our village people have agreed to make this area a tourist destination,” he said. “We will protect the boat so let it just stay here. We don’t want to have it moved to another place, as we would get no benefit from it, leaving this area with only the memory of being a boat village.”

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PERAHU NUSANTARA ABAD KE-7 DITELITI

Perahu kuno Punjulharjo di Kabupaten Rembang, Jawa Tengah yang sempat menghebohkan dunia arkeologi Indonesia setahun yang lalu diteliti oleh Balai Arkeologi Yogyakarta akhir Juni 2009 ini. Hasil sementara menunjukkan bahwa buah karya anak Nusantara sekitar 1300 tahun yang lalu ini benar-benar spektakuler dilihat dari beberapa informasi hasil penelitian.



Pertama adalah kelengkapan sisa perahu bukan hanya masih berbentuk, tetapi juga banyak bagiannya yang dapat menjadi data teknologi perkapalan Nusantara kuno. Di Indonesia, situs perahu kuno dengan kondisi sedemikian lengkapnya belum pernah ditemukan. Menurut Prof. PY Manguin, seorang ahli arkeologi maritime dari EFEO (Prancis), di Asia tenggara kepulauan telah berkembang sebuah tradisi pembutan perahu dengan teknologi yang sangat khas, yaitu penggunaan ikatan tali ijuk dan pasak kayu untuk membentuk badan perahu. Perahu Punjulharjo memberi pengetahuan bagaimana teknologi itu digunakan, mulai dari papan-papan yang dilengkapi dengan tambuku (tonjolan pada bagian dalam dengan lubang-lubang untuk mengikat), gading-gading, ikatan antara papan dengan gading pada tambuku, bagian haluan, bagian bunyikan, lunas, sdb.




Kedua adalah umur kapal yang menunjuk pada abad ke-7 Masehi berdasarkan dating melalui sample tali ijuk. Jika dikaitkan dengan kerangka sejarah, masa ini kira-kira sejaman dengan awal perkembangan Mataram kuno di Jawa dan awal masa Srivijaya di Sumatra. Apakah perahu ini merupakan kapal dagang antara Jawa dan Sumatra belum dapat dipastikan karena banyak data yang harus ditemukan untuk itu. Namun, berdasarkan ukuran dan proporsi perahu, yaitu panjang sekitar 15 meter dan lebar sekitar 5 meter (sehingga proporsi 1:3), kemungkinan sebagai perahu dagang sangat mungkin, bahkan untuk mengarungi lautan dalam jarak jauh, demikian Manguin menambahkan.

Manguin yang terlibat langsung dalam proses penelitian mengakui kehebatan situs ini, justru karena kandungan data dan informasi tentang teknologi perkapalan kuno serta sebagai bahan pengembangan arkeologi maritim. Untuk itu, penelitian setuntas-tuntasnya harus dilakukan serta diikuti dengan program konservasi yang memadai. Dengan konservasi yang mampu menjamin kelestarian, diharapkan  situs perahu Punjulharjo dapat menjadi "ensiklopedi terbuka", yang dapat dimanfaatkan untuk pengembangan penelitian. Bukan hanya itu, nantinya situs ini juga dapat dimanfaatkan untuk menunjang dunia pendidikan, dan tidak menutup kemungkinan sebagai objek wisata asalkan kelestarian situs menjadi priorotas pertama.





Informasi lainnya adalah artefak yang ditemukan di bagian dalam perahu yang cukup beragam. Pada awal penemuan perahu ini oleh penduduk ditemukan sebuah kepala arca, kayu, tulang, dan fragmen tembikar.  Pada saat dilakukan penelitian, juga ditemukan beberapa artefak wadah yang dapat dikelompokkan berdasarkan bahannya, yaitu wadah yang terbuat dari tanah liat (tembikar), wadah terbuat dari tempurung kelapa, wadah terbuat dari ruas bambu. Selain artefak wadah, juga ditemukan beberapa artefak lain seperti “tongkat” kayu dan “bandul jala” dari logam.



Menurut Novida Abbas, ketua tim, penelitian kali ini memang menghasilkan data dan pengetahuan tentang perahu kuno cukup banyak, bahkan beberapa di antaranya merupakan data dan pengetahuan baru. Namun diakuinya bahwa masih banyak pertanyaan yang harus dijawab melalui penelitian berikutnya, seperti data bagian luar perahu, riwayat geomorfologis situs, kemungkinan adanya situs lain di sekitarnya yang terkait, dsb. Berita lebih lengkap tentang hasil penelitian di situs perahu kuno Punjulharjo, Rembang, akan dimuat di arkeologijawa setelah pelaksanaan penelitian rampung. (sgg)

odz2243

Kena tulis something.....kalau tak mods potong credits

fariepari

terpegun seketika aku dibuatnye..