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| Turiang |
28 Oct 2001
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| Last modified: 28 Oct 2001 |
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A number of storage jars from Suphanburi province have been found on the Turiang. One jar decorated with horizontal grooves and made of a coarse, blackish-gray clay, stands 26cm high to the broken neck. A similar jar was found on the Royal Nanhai.
Another jar has an everted rim carved with tiers, four small token lug handles, and an impressed band of leaf-like motifs with carved rings around the shoulder. It is of light grey clay, finely pitted, which may be the result of abrasion over time. Splashes of reddish stain may be the result of contact with the iron in the ship's cargo. This jar is 46cm high.
There
are at least four very large jars still buried in the seabed. Two fragments
of similar broad-shouldered jars were recovered. One has a faint impressed band
of temple-style (leaf-like) motifs at the shoulder, and two (originally four)
small token lug handles at carved rings just below the neck. The other comprises
only a rim and part of the neck. The rim diameter of both is about 36cm; the
clay is dark and gritty and about 2.5cm thick. This appears identical to a jar
recovered from the Longquan, which had a capacity of about 260 litres.
One
earthenware pot is made from a vivid red clay, impressed with circular cord
marks which begin at the centre of the rounded but relatively flat base, and
with vertical stamped zig-zag patterns at the shoulder. It is 23cm in diameter
and 16cm high, and was probably used by the crew for cooking. Similar pots,
often referred to as rice pots, have been found on many Southeast Asian shipwrecks.
Another earthenware pot of brownish clay, very similar in shape and decoration and 28cm high, contained a resinous substance which flowed before recovery and solidified in air. A sample is to be analysed.
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