A Stone Anchor from Beypore, Kerala, West Coast of India (original) (raw)

A Stone Anchor from Beypore, Kerala, West Coast of India by Selvakumar V, Sreelatha Damodaran, Jaseera C M and Rachel A Varghese

Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology, 2022

Beypore is an important maritime centre in the history of Kerala as well as Indian Ocean. It was active centre of navigation and shipbuilding from the medieval period. At Beypore several types of boats are built even today. The authors identified a stone anchor of Indo-Arabian type near Beypore. The anchor matches with the description of Varthema. This paper discusses the importance of the anchor and the nature of the boat that used the stone anchor.

An Indo-Arabian Type of Stone Anchor from Kannur, Kerala, West coast of

2015

The study of stone anchors can provide information on the size, date and provenance of the ships that carried them, as they were provided by the boat- or ship-builder. In general terms the size of the ship can be correlated with the anchor, but finds of stone anchors from various sites both in India and abroad suggest that ships carried a number of anchors of various sizes. This may have been related to the type of journey, or expected weather conditions. In storms or other unfavourable conditions sailors looked for a sheltered place to anchor. The types of anchors depend on the nature of the seabed. Generally, anchors are found in harbour sites, dockyards, shipwreck sites, and sheltered places along trade routes. Many examples have been found on rocky sea beds and in shallow waters in Indian coastal waters (Gaur et al., 2001; Sundaresh et al., 1999 and Sila Tripati et al., 2003). Over the years exploration and chance finds have yielded 59 triangular anchors, 109 Indo-Arabian and 60...

An Indo‐Arabian Type of Stone Anchor from Kannur, Kerala, West Coast of India

2005

The basic texts for our understanding of the construction of Roman harbours are found in Vitruvius's De Architectura 2.6. 1, and 5.12. 2–6, written c. 25 BC. A significant portion of these passages concerns the technology of building harbour structures in hydraulic concrete, a mortar of pozzolana, lime and water combined with aggregate, that could be placed in inundated wooden formwork in the sea.

Stone anchors along the coast of Chilika Lake: New light on the maritime activities of Orissa, India

2008

Abstract: Since the beginning of maritime archaeological studies, several types of stone anchors have been either retrieved or located along the coast of India. These stone anchors show their evolution to the development and have contributed immensely towards the growth of maritime trade. With increase in the carrying capacity of ships, changes made in their sizes and construction patterns, subsequently, the size and shape of the anchors also got modified.

Indo-Arabian stone anchor of Manikapatna, Odisha, east coast of India: an indicator of maritime contacts of Odisha

Current Science, 2021

Numerous stone and iron anchors of various shapes and sizes have been brought to light during the maritime archaeological explorations along the Indian littoral. And anchors are proxies to maritime archaeological studies. The recent maritime archaeological studies along the Manikapatna Coast of Chilika Lake, Odisha, India, discovered one broken Indo-Arabian stone anchor. The archaeological excavation findings suggest that Manikapatna served as a port from the early historical period up to the 18th century CE. Besides the Indo-Arabian stone anchor, composite, kel-lick, one-armed anchor with stone stock and single hole stone anchors were previously documented along the Odisha coast. None of the anchors were accompanied by associated findings, nor from any strata, and therefore, these anchors differ in their period and usage. Nonetheless, some of the stone anchors are still used by the fisherfolk of Odisha in their traditional crafts. The finding of the Indo-Arabian stone anchor of Manikapatna has a great significance in the maritime history of Odisha. This paper discusses the Indo-Arabian stone anchor found at Manikapatna coast, its importance in the maritime history of Odisha and in comparison with other Indo-Arabian types of stone anchors of the Indian subcontinent.

A group of 20 stone anchors from the waters of Dwarka, on the Gujarat Coast, India

International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 2001

A large number of stone anchors were discovered in a water depth of lo--l4 m off Dwarka during the 1998-99 season. The seabed near the anchors consists of a ledge with an average height of 1 m. Several anchors were found trapped between the rocks suggesting an anchorage. Twenty stone anchors of three types were loacted in a submerged channel on the southern side of the site. The grapnel type of anchor is associated with Indo-Arab trade between the 8th and 16th centuries AD. The triangular or composite anchors have a date ranging from 2500 BC to the Modern Period. Therefore, the dating of these anchors at Dwarka is a matter of concern and is discussed.

Proceedings of the 2nd Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Edited Stone anchors of India: Findings, Classification and Significance

Various types of stone anchors have been observed during inshore and offshore explorations along the east and west coasts of India. The earliest stone anchors of India have been recorded from the Harappan sites (3rd millennium BC), but their shape and size do not resemble the anchors found during maritime archaeological explorations since 1986. The stone anchors until now recovered from many sites of India can broadly be classified into four types: namely composite, Indo-Arabian, ring stone (mushroom) and single hole. Among all these types of anchors the Indo-Arabian are largest in number and were associated with the Arab traders who were also involved in the horse trade. Moreover, Indo-Arabian stone anchors have been found in a datable context as well reused as lintels, mooring bits, pavements, etc. Composite and single-hole stone anchors are the oldest ones. Composite