Intan shipwreck cargo

Record summary

The Intan wreck, recovered from the Java Sea in the late 1990s, contained ceramics, glass, metal and other goods associated with early Southeast Asian maritime exchange. It is useful for comparing cargo composition, transshipment and the circulation of Chinese and regional products before the better-known Belitung discovery. Interpretation is constrained because the site was commercially salvaged, the vessel itself was poorly preserved and parts of the assemblage lack secure find positions. Dating and port-of-origin arguments therefore depend on typology, cargo patterning and limited archaeological context.