Ship types

In studying the remains of the Old Gokstad ship of Denmark, Hornell comments:

In Europe, the type of boat characterized by frames lashed to cleats on the inner side fo the skin is unknown elsewhere than from the Scandinavian region. In the countries bordering the Mediterranean the earliest plank-built boats of which we have any knowledge, those from Ancient Egypt, were actually built without frames....Neither is there trace nor suggestion of the use of inserted frames lashed to cleats among the constructional descriptions of any of the many types of boat design found in the Indian Ocean.

Cleats of the same shape with a central perforation were arranged in vertical rows in both the orembai and Gokstad ships. The frames were lashed to the cleats with cords.

(James Hornell, Water Transport: Origins and Early Evolution)

The lashed-lug construction using U-shaped frames is found also in the present-day lepa or lepa-lepa of the Badjau people of the Philippines and Borneo, the 10th century Butuan barangay ship, and in early Spanish descriptions of ships among Waray speakers of the central Philippines.

Hornell also mentions a variation of this type of construction using continuous ridges rather than cleats that was found in Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.

Another important feature found in the orembai is the double-hull bifid construction. Boats of the type abound in the Arctic region and are found as far as Scandinavia.


Bifid boats depicted on Swedish petroglyphs

Menzies has studied a number of ships that he calls "junks" and connects with Zheng He's treasure voyages. We will discuss a few of those at this time.

Firstly, the Pandanan ship mentioned earlier is described as a junk, although Dr. Dizon who carried out the investigation of the wreck describes it distinctly as "Southeast Asian." For example, unlike junks of the time, this ship was constructed entirely of wood joints and had no iron nails.

On the Pacific coast of North America, Menzies mentions two interesting "wrecks." The first was found off the beach at Neahkahnie, Oregon. It consisted mainly of a teak pulley and beeswax. According to Menzies the pulley has been radiocarbon dated to 1410. However, others claim a 1993 test found a date of 1595.

Since the rest of the ship has not been found, it cannot be classified as a junk and some experts believe it may have been a wayward Spanish galleon. However, tests of beeswax associated with the find date as early as 1500 i.e. before the start of the galleon trade in 1565.

Interestingly, pollen studies conducted by the University of Oregon show that old beeswax discoveries off the coast of Oregon are associated with holley found in the island of northern Luzon in the Philippines. At least some of this beeswax dates from the galleon trade times and is in the form of European-style candles.

The other site of interest is the so-called "Sacramento junk." This wreck is of particular interest to me since I live in Sacramento. However, the supposed ship is actually nearly 200 miles to the north of the city along the Sacramento River.

The first indications of a possible wreck came when drillers found a piece of metal near a Sacramento River channel in the 1930s. The metal, which no longer exists, was analyzed and described as possibly being a chunk of Chinese armor.

Subsequent drilling has turned up pieces of wood and apparently some grains of rice and many black seeds. Radiocarbon dating suggests the wood ranges from as early as 1100 AD to as late as 1450 AD.

The excavator John Furry also found what he believed were pottery pieces that possibly held the black seeds. He claimed that magnetic scanning of the site displayed the outline of the ship.

Maybe somewhat indicating that the zeal of the skeptics can match Menzies', each of these items has been, rather speculatively, explained away. The pottery pieces have been explained as something created by the drill, the rice and black seeds as probably something stored by a squirrel or other animal and the wood as a tree that had fallen in the water. No tests have been done apparently to analyze what type of wood was involved.

One has to wonder though exactly what Nusantao or Chinese sailors would have been doing this far up river around Sacramento.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Back to the Northern Seas

James Hornell, one of the leading experts on the history of seafaring in the 20th century suggested that a "South Seas" culture had managed to migrate throughout much of the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions during what he calls the "Maritime Phase" starting around 4,000 BC.

At this time, the weather was much warmer in the far northern regions than it is today. Hornell identified this culture based on the following similarities:

Ship construction with tongue and groove method, no nails (at least by Neolithic).

Ships had dual bifid ends and a double dugout and plank-built construction (Bronze Age possibly Mesolithic/Neolithic transition.

Vessels had high upturned ends (Bronze Age)

Hook-shaped thole pins were used instead of oar-ports (historical period)

The use of the "Oceanic" bailer (historical period)

The practice of ship burial (Bronze Age)

Funerary sacrifice rituals (Bronze Age)

The primary release bow and arrow (historical period)

Similar totemic prow design (Bronze Age)

The "ship of the dead" and serpent motifs (Bronze Age)

In some areas, the lashing of the frame to the hull with flexible cleats (possibly Mesolithic-Neolithic transition, Bronze Age)

The raising of megaliths (Neolithic, Bronze Age)

As can be seen, not all this evidence found by Hornell can necessarily be dated all the way back to 4,000 BC. Some other important links can be added this list to include:

Shellfish collection and building of shell mounds (Mesolithic-Neolithic transition)

Use of tattoos (Neolithic)

Long bow (Neolithic)

Composite, circular fish hooks, composite bows (from horn bow), Neolithic

Toggling harpoons, sometimes of a very specific morphology

Communal longhouses

Semi-subterranean dwellings

Sea mammal hunting

Quadrangular stone adzes

Use of jade and/or nephrite

Similar motifs, myths and folklore

In some areas particularly in northern Europe, evidence suggesting linguistic contact

Some of the earliest examples of this south to north transition, as we have already discussed, may date back to pre-Austronesian Jomon times. There is evidence though that these contacts did not vanish after the warm Maritime Phase mentioned by Hornell. Enough knowledge was retained of the northern areas within the Nusantao network to maintain links, and for periodic waves of contact or migration in both directions.

We will discuss some elements of this northern maritime culture in detail starting with the bow and arrow.

In the Churning of the Milky Ocean myth, one of the products of the sea is the Dhanu, or long bow. This becomes in particular the weapon of the god Visnu.

In China, the "Yi" part of the ethnonym "Dong Yi" has been suggested to consist of a combination of the script signs ? meaning "large" or "great" and ? meaning "bow." Thus, 'Eastern people of the great bow."

The long bow is particularly popular among forest or maritime people. Most bows in Southeast Asia and the Pacific are long bows. One of the most famous long bows is the Yumi of Japan, a composite wooden bow more than 2 meters (6 feet) long.

There are some interesting similarities between bows in Southeast Asia and the Pacific with those of Japan, the Arctic and the Pacific Northwest. Some of these similarities may relate directly to developments of the pure horn bow.

Pure horn bows occur infrequently in Asia but were rather regular on the island of Java. Horn bows are generally cut from water buffalo horn because of their length and compressibility. The pure horn bow may have given rise both to the reflex bow and the composite bow.

The horn bow is always strung in the opposite direction of the natural curve as this is the only way to create sufficient tension. A bow strung like this is called a reflex bow. Although wooden and composite bows do not require this type of construction, a number of such reflex bows are found including those found among the Pacific Northwest Indians and the Andaman Islanders. Archery historican C.J. Longman thinks this may be a survival of a practice used previously in making pure horn bows.

Longman also believes the pure horn bow led to the eventual development of the composite bow. Because of the difficulty in stringing bows using the reverse curve, they tend to be strung continuously leading to quick wear-and-tear. He believed the archer would try to mend the bows artifically:

He would then restore them to their natural shape by running a thong along the back of the bow (the concave side when it is unstrung), which would be secured by being seized tightly at intervals along the bow, with transverse lashings. His thong would probably be made of animal sinew, and he would now find his bow restored to its former power, or perhaps something more. This picture of the actual course of events in the evolution of the composite bow is, of course, imaginary, and no doubt the ultimate result was, in fact, arrived at after many experiments and failures. Here, however, we have the groundwork of the weapon and the lines which are followed, in all the best types, the three main factors being:--

(1) Horn, being a compressible material for the belly.
(2) Wood as a stiffener, especially for the centre, and (as we shall see subsequently) for the ears.
(3) Sinews, an elastic stretchable material for the back.

No doubt it was a bow roughly made of these materials which ousted the primitive wooden bow throughout Asia, and spread through the lands of the Tschutshis of Eastern Siberia to the Eskimo of North America.

Another morphological pecularity of the long bow that might give an indication of common origin is the widespread occurence of a groove at the end of the bow. In the vast majority of cases, the groove serves no practical purpose and even weakens the weapon.

However, Longman mentions that Tongans and South American Indians bind an arrow in the groove -- a practical usage.

The long bow tends to be used by peoples who still use the primary release. This type of release is the most natural one in which one holds the arrow between the thumb and the forefinger. One can often distinguish primary release arrows as they tend to have bulbous or scored ends that make griping easier. Primary release arrows are rather the rule in the Pacific and much of Southeast Asia.

The arrows of this region are also distinguished by the composite use of bamboo shafts and hardwood foreshafts.

The maritime cultures of the north probably used the bow often during sea hunting expeditions. Toggling harpoon arrowheads were used for this purpose attached to a retrieving line.

Knobbed primary release arrows, Pacific Northwest Indian

New Hebrides long bow

Japanese long bow


Philippine projectile weapons from Krieger, including 1) Ayta single-piece long bow, polished palmwood, Sambali, 2) Ayta single-piece, grooved heavy long bow, palmwood, Bisaya, 3) Bagobo palmwood bow bound in rattan, 4) Moro palmwood bow with cord of bamboo splint.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento


References

Krieger, Herbert W., "The Collection of Primitive Weapons and Armor of the Philippine Islands in the United States National Museum," Smithsonian Institution; United States National Museum, Bulletin 137 (1926).

Longman, C.J. and Col. H. Walrond, Badminton Library of Sports: Archery. New York, F. Ungar Pub. Co., 1967.

Spice merchants and Sea Kings

The early term for "merchant" in Austronesian is *dagang (Dempwolff) and this word is very similar to one of the terms for "ocean."

That the word for merchant might be derived from the word for ocean would make sense in light of archaeological evidence showing the earliest Nusantao trade involved coastal shell tools traded further inland. The tradition of maritime trade would expand to unprecedented levels with the introduction of spices and precious metals.

The movement of spices from Southeast Asia to Tanzania and other ports of southeastern Africa continued well into medieval times. The Muslim texts speak of merchants from Zabag and Wakwak in Southeast Asia conducting regular trading missions to Africa. The merchants from Zabag and Komr appear to have had a friendler trade relationship with Africa at this time, while Wakwak was more militaristic. Madagascar may have been populated originally by people engaged in the spice trade. The local Malagasy language is of Austronesian origin.

By the time the spice trade was roaring around 3,500 years ago, the names of spices coming via the clove route, even those of certain Southeast Asian origin like cloves, usually were of Indic origin further west in Europe and the Middle East. Those coming via the cinnamon route usually had more Austronesian-looking names in the West. This would indicate that the Nusantao were mostly only traveling as far as India on the clove route, but were moving all the way down the line along the cinnamon route.

For such long distance trade to work in this early period, autonomous sea kings had to manage things in their own regions along the spice routes.

Torsten Pedersen has reconstructed *H-r-g- as a probable Austronesian word linked with these early types of rulers.

*H-r-g-

Regarding the word rex, Torsten quotes E. Benveniste:

Rex, which is attested only in Italic, Celtic, and Indic - that
is at the Western and Eastern extremeties of the Indo-European
world, belongs to a very ancient group of terms relating to
religion and law. The connexion of Latin rego with Gr. orégo:
“extend in a straight line” (the o- being phonologically
explainable), the examination of the old uses of reg- in Latin
(e.g. in regere fines, e regione, rectus, rex sacrorum)
suggests that the rex, properly more of a priest than a king
in the modern sense, was the man who had authority to trace out
the sites of towns and to determine the rules of law.

However, Torsten suggests the rex words may belong instead "to a very ancient group of terms having to do with navigation which were introduced by invaders arriving from the east into exactly those Western and Eastern extremeties of the IE area because they have a coastline."

He links rex and related terms with the idea of a ship captain whose duties include ship-building and navigation. Indeed, one of the Austronesian terms for "ruler" is ratu/datu, which can also mean captain of a ship (barangay). Some likely cognates of this word in the Pacific -- ratu and latu -- have the meaning "master builder."

The builder and navigator must both use measurements for accuracy.

The idea of a builder is strengthened by some ancient images associated with early kings.

Fu Hsi and Nu Gua as part sea-serpents with entwined tails (sometimes fish tails) and holding carpenter's square and bow compass respectively (Shandong temple)

Shamash shown holding the royal lapis lazuli measuring rod and looped measuring cord

The practice of ship burial of kings and chiefs may be another remnant left by the ancient Nusantao sea kings. The practice was found in ancient Egypt, among the Vikings and of course among the Austronesians.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The Nusantao Trade Network

Solheim writes about the northern expansions: "I hypothesize that any time that maritime people in their explorations would come across the mouth of a large river, they would have moved up the river making contact with the local inhabitants and not have stayed totally along the coast." (Solheim 2000)

All indications point to the maritime Nusantao as expert seafarers. Often their sites had bones of sea mammals that could only be obtained after lengthy blue-water voyages. Their semi-permanent dwellings indicated that they moved seasonally over water as part of their lifestyle. Naturally they would settle on the coast, along river banks and lake shores.

In addition to the archaeological evidence, Solheim believes the Nusantao migrations help account for three sets of linguistics relationships that exist between Austronesian and other East Asian languages.

Others have suggested that these relationships are genetic links: Paul Benedict has postulated a family called Austro-Tai creating a link with Daic languages such as Thai and Laotian. He latter expanded Austro-Tai to include Japanese and Hmong-Mien. Schichiro Murayama had suggested Malayo-Polynesian influence but not genetic relationship with Japanese.

More recently, Laurent Sagart has proposed that Sino-Tibetan languages and Austronesian descend from a shared proto-language.

Solheim, however, believes that the first two links are the result of massive early borrowing with Nusantao traders. Firstly, contacts with Daic speakers near the Yangtze, and then with Korean and Japanese speakers during the transfer of Yayoi culture from Shandong and Korea to Japan.

We might add also this as a possible explanation for the Sino-Tibetan similarities. Certainly it does not seem that all these languages were related.

Proto-Sino-Tibetan, for example, was likely tonal and monosyllabic as this appears as a family trait of Sino-Tibetan languages. Most languages that have been in contact with Sino-Tibetan languages for some time tend to pick up some of these traits as in the example of Mon-Khmer languages.

Neither Austronesian, Korean or Japanese show anything roughly similar to this type of influence on their sound systems.

The Nusantao may have obtained their penchant for seafaring and trading from the earliest people in the region, many of whom doubtless were their ancestors. From very early dates in the Paleolithic, there are indications of settlement and trade that involved long sea voyages in the region of Australia and Melanesia (New Britain).

Some of the earliest evidence of long-range sea trade in the world is the regional exchange of the volcanic glass known as obsidian.

In mainland Southeast Asia, we first see evidence of trade in the presence of shell tools in highland areas far from the coast, and stone tools in coastal regions without stones. Solheim also believes at least two important agricultural products were traded -- rice and sugarcane -- and thus the common words for these products over much of this region.

The widest evidence for trade though comes from the presence of jade and nephrite in large quantities that seems quite likely to come in all cases from the Yangtze region. They occur in the Middle Neolithic culture of Shandong known as the Dawenkou and a bit north in the latter Hongshan culture.

Jade and nephrite have been found at neolithic sites in Batangas and Palawan in the Philippines. The presence of nephrite adzes indicates large quantities of this material in a location not known to have any natural sources.

Later, possibly by about 5500 years ago, particular types of jade/nephrite ornaments of the lingling-o and bicephalous (double-headed) type appear. Solheim sees these as strong evidence of the Nusantao trade.

The nature of these ornaments, as we will explore later, are clan-related.

Now at about this same time (pre-5000 BC), we see shell mounds popping up at Ubaid sites in the Persian Gulf. Oppenheimer has noted that the Ubaid sites contain pretty much the same inventory as those in the SE Asian Neolithic -- quadrangular stone adzes, stone hoes, clay sinkers and spindle whorls, beads, discs and painted pottery.

The Ubaid culture is thought to have given risen to the culture of the Sumerians some 5500 years ago.