This book presents a quantitative result from the elemental Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectrometry (hereafter known as ICP-OES) analysis for three bronze gongs and 10 copper alloy artefacts from the shipwreck site off the northernmost tip of Borneo, Tanjung Simpang Mengayau Wreck the oldest shipwreck discovered in Malaysian waters. Despite various tools and techniques to obtain the elemental composition of metal artefacts, ICP-OES is considered modern and reliable analytical chemical instrument for these bronze artefacts from shipwreck and museum collection. The analyzed artefacts from the cargo, based on the decoration of ceramics pottery, patinas AD – 1279 AD. The elemental data would pertain the metal present in China and reflects the maritime trade by the Chinese to the Southeast Asian countries during the time period.

In 1997 Michael Flecker investigated a shipwreck in the north Java sea. The wreck comprised the remains of a mid 10th-century ship with its cargo of thousands of ceramic and non-ceramic artefacts. This report describes the methodology and aims of the underwater operation, discusses the finds that were recovered and places these within the context of maritime archaeology in southeast Asia. Flecker evaluates the evidence from the Intan shipwreck alongside contemporary historical information about sea travel, ports, trade routes and cargoes.

This book initiatively and systematically presents the latest discoveries in the context of shipwreck archaeology in China, telling the exciting story of the wrecks’ distribution, connotation and the research advances and empirically reconstructing the development of overseas trade and maritime cultures along the Maritime Silk Road, which flourished for more than 2000 years. The book features numerous high-quality images and comprehensively describes and reviews the development of the methodologies and technologies used in China’s underwater archaeology and underwater cultural heritage administration in recent decades.