The Dhow's last redoubt? Vestiges of wooden boatbuilding traditions in Yemen
Agius, DA; Cooper, JP; Jansen van Rensburg, J; et al.Zazzaro, C
Date: 31 July 2010
Article
Journal
Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies
Publisher
Archaeopress
Abstract
Researchers from the MARES Project visited Yemen in February 2009 in
order to investigate the building and use of traditional wooden boats (‘dhows’,
in English parlance) in the country. The survey covered the coastline from
Aden to Salif in the Red Sea, and visited centres of traditional dhow building
and use, including Ghureira, ...
Researchers from the MARES Project visited Yemen in February 2009 in
order to investigate the building and use of traditional wooden boats (‘dhows’,
in English parlance) in the country. The survey covered the coastline from
Aden to Salif in the Red Sea, and visited centres of traditional dhow building
and use, including Ghureira, Mocha and Khokha. The project aimed to assess
the state of the industry, establish a vessel typology, understand construction
processes, learn about the use of these vessels, and compile a lexicon of
boatbuilding and nautical terms. This article offers the preliminary findings of
the survey, pending more comprehensive publication in the future. The survey
found that, in all locations visited, the building of new vessels had rapidly
diminished in the preceding decade, and had now all but ceased. The only
ongoing activity witnessed during the survey was repairs to existing wooden
craft. In formerly large boat-building centres, wooden boat-builders, mostly
elderly, have ceased work, while younger men were building fishing craft
using fibreglass – the material used in the great majority of vessels in Yemen
today. A preliminary typology of surviving vessel was established. The doubleended
cargo-carrying za<īmahs and zārūqs were recorded only as
2
abandoned hulks. Double-ended <obrīs and transom-sterned ‘large hūrīs’,
with their stern-quarter ‘fins’, continued to be used in small numbers for sein
fishing and transporting livestock. Again, most examples were abandoned.
Various forms of small log and plank hūrī ‘canoes’ were observed, few still in
use, while the log-raft ramas survives on the Red Sea coast. The terms used
for these vessel types form part of a linguistic survey of dhow activity in
Yemen.
Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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