Sewn‐Plank Reconstructions of Oman: construction and documentation

Abstract

This paper discusses three medieval sewn‐plank reconstructions undertaken in the Sultanate of Oman in the past 40 years: the Sohar, Jewel of Muscat, and al‐Hariri Boat. It describes the specific methods of sewn‐plank construction for each vessel and examines the different methods of documentation applied during the three projects. It concludes with a comparison of the data derived from single‐wadding (al‐Hariri Boat) and double‐wadding (Jewel of Muscat) sewing techniques to highlight the differences between the two methods and emphasize the importance of documenting such reconstructions.

Abstracto

Reconstrucciones de embarcaciones de tracas cosidas de Omán: construcción y documentación

Este artículo discute la reconstrucción de tres embarcaciones medioevales de tracas cosidas elaboradas en el Sultanato de Omán en los últimos cuarenta años: el Sohar, el Jewel of Muscat y el al‐Hariri Boat. Se describen los métodos específicos de la construcción de tracas cosidas de cada embarcación y se examinan los diferentes métodos de documentación aplicados durante los tres proyectos. El artículo concluye con una comparación de los datos derivados de las técnicas de costura con guata sencilla (al‐Hariri Boat) y guata doble (Jewel of Muscat) para resaltar la diferencia entre los dos métodos y enfatizar la importancia de documentar este tipo de reconstrucciones.

抽象

阿曼缝制船的复原:建造与记录

本文讨-过去40年间在阿曼苏丹国复原的三艘-世纪缝制船:“索哈”号 (Sohar)、“马斯喀特之宝”号 (Jewel of Muscat) 和“哈里-船”号 (al‐Hariri Boat)。文章描述了每艘缝制船建造的具体方法并研究了三-项目的不同记录方式。最后, 文中还对单衬 (“哈里-船”号) 和双衬 (“马斯喀特之宝”号) 缝制技术数据进行了比较以突出两种方法的差异并强调在此类复原中记录的重要性。

阿曼縫制船的複原:建造與-錄

本文討-過去40年間在阿曼蘇丹國複原的三艘-世紀縫制船:“索哈”號 (Sohar)、“馬斯喀特之寶”號 (Jewel of Muscat) 和“哈里-船”號 (al‐Hariri Boat)。文章描述了每艘縫制船建造的具體方法並研究了三-項目的不同記錄方式。最後, 文中還對單襯 (“哈里-船”號) 和雙襯 (“馬斯喀特之寶”號) 縫制技術數據進行了比較以突出兩種方法的差異並強調在此類複原中-錄的重要性。

ملخص

Key words:

• Experimental archaeology
• sewn‐plank
• medieval
• Indian Ocean
• Oman

Acknowledgements

There are too many to thank individually, but I would like to thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman, in particular H.E. Sayyid Badr Al Bu Saidi, as well as the Singapore government, for their generous patronage of the Jewel of Muscat and other reconstruction projects. I would also like to thank the German University of Technology, as well as H.E. Shaikh Abdullah al‐Salimi and Dr Abdulrahman al‐Salimi for their support of the al‐Hariri Boat project. Finally, I am incredibly grateful to the reconstruction teams of both vessels, in particular Tom Vosmer and Alessandro Ghidoni, as well as all of the rope‐workers and shipwrights working on these projects from whom I have learned so much.

Notes

1. For example, an edited volume devoted to replicas and reconstructions published ten years ago, Sailing in the Past (Bennett, 2009), is illustrative of this imbalance. Nine of the ten chapters related to specific replica or reconstruction projects are devoted to European, Australian, and North American vessels, with only one chapter focused on vessels from the rest of the world, in this case the Bezaisen coastal traders of Japan. Efforts are being made to diversify the field, but the majority of such projects have historically focused on European or European‐style vessels.

2. It must be noted that a fourth sewn‐plank reconstruction, the ‘beden seyad’, has been built in Oman, but it represents a more modern vessel. It is a replica of the 19th‐century sewn‐plank fishing badan based on François‐Edmond Pâris’ drawings of a ‘beden seyad’ in Essai sur la construction navale des peuples extra‐européens ou collection des navires et pirogues (Pâris, 1843), for the National Museum of Oman. It is not a medieval craft, and is the focus of another article in this publication (Ghidoni, 2019), so it will not be analyzed in any depth here.

3. As of yet, the method of construction for the Godavaya shipwreck, found in Sri Lanka and dated to approximately the 1st or 2nd century CE, has not been published.

4. The digital and paper archives for the construction of the Jewel of Muscat and al‐Hariri Boat is in the possession of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Sultanate of Oman.

5. The planks are labelled using the method recommended by Steffy (2006). In this case, P stands for port, 8 represents the strake number, and 2 marks the number of the plank in the strake from fore to aft. Thus, P8/2 is the second aft plank on the eighth strake on the port side, and P8/3 is the third aft plank on the same side and strake.

6. In this particular case, the sewing was from P8/2 hole 43 to P8/3 hole 10.

Additional information

Funding

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman