Jewel of Muscat
Videos, photos and information on the reconstruction of a 9th-century Arab ship, and its historic voyage from Oman to Singapore.
What parallels can be drawn between the Jewel and traditional crafts still in existence in the 19th and early 20th centuries?
We selected the battil as a model on which to base the unknown portions of our reconstruction. This was mainly because the cargo distribution indicated a hull shape similar to a battil, and because the joinery and stitching of the Belitung wreck through-beams were very similar to those of a battil.
It turned out to be a rather difficult shape to plank. There also may be parallels with Sri Lankan craft such as the yathra dhoni, which also had wadding under the stitching on the outside as well as the inside, like the Belitung ship. We do not believe, however, that the Belitung ship was built in Sri Lanka, due to its not using Sri Lankan timber.