Star anise from a fifteenth century Indonesian shipwreck

Abstract

Maritime trade routes in Southeast Asia date to at least the last millennium BC evidenced by excavations of port-cities, entrepôts and early coastal polities in Peninsular Thailand, the Mekong Delta and Island Southeast Asia. This trade network intensified over the next millennium and by the fifteenth century, the number of trade goods throughout Medieval Southeast Asia was prolific. The bulk of studied material comprises trade ceramics, particularly in archaeological investigations of shipwreck cargoes which provide information on regional trading patterns. Although ceramic assemblages constitute the bulk of shipwreck cargo, other types of material have also been found, including the spice star anise. In this paper, we focus on the organic contents from two jars found in the Bakau shipwreck dating to the early fifteenth century AD. The finds are significant as this spice (star anise, Illicium verum) is being transported together with items of high value for trade.