Ink Inscriptions on the Tang Exportation Ceramics: Evidence of Elites on Southeast Asian Kunlun Ship

KIMURA Jun1*, ISHIGURO Hisako2, TANAKA Katsuko3, LÊ Thị Liên4, BÙI Văn Hiếu5, and ĐINH Thị Thanh Nga6

The remnants of the Southeast Asian merchant ship and cargo were recovered in the early 2000s from the seabed off the coast of Chau Tan village Binh Son, Quang Ngai Province, Central Vietnam. The cargo of the Chau Tan Shipwreck includes 968 ceramic shards with inscriptions in different languages. Of them there are 57 Chinese scripts, which are either incised inscriptions or ink inscriptions. A few Ink inscriptions are related to the ownership of the cargo by Tang periods’ elites such as merchants or monks.