MARITIME TREASURES OFF THE MALAY PENINSULA

Abstract

The Malay Peninsula –or what is present day West/Peninsular Malaysia – shores are flanked on either side by the South China Sea on the east and the Straits of Malacca (Melaka) on the west, both essentially important sea-borne passages between the East and the West. By the first millennium BCE and the early part of the first millennium CE the Malay Peninsula possessed trading sites on the lower reaches of rivers and along the coasts. Complementing the peninsula’s strategic location was the seasonal monsoonal pattern that facilitated the comings and goings of merchant fleets enabling long-distant seaborne trade to develop. The peninsula acted as a ‘connector’ for the confluence of traders from East Asia to interact with counterparts from South and West Asia and within Southeast Asia. The Straits of Malacca was a pivotal passage of the Maritime Silk Route. A multitude of natural elements and man-made disasters (warfare in particular) resulted in shipwrecks in the Straits and the South China Sea. This paper shall revisit the beginnings of maritime archaeology in Malaysia, ascertain the players and the contemporary playing field, the benefits of this endeavour, look towards its developments, and envisage its future directions.