Maritime Trade Between China and the West

An archaeological study of ceramics from the trading site at Siraf in the Persian Gulf, excavated between 1966 and 1972. Working from the pottery samples preserved in the Ashmolean and British Museums and the excavation record cards, the author presents a classification of the pottery by fabrics and shapes, and investigates those which are local (many from Siraf Kilus), and those which are imports, such as the glazed wares of Islamic and Chinese origin. This data forms the background to a discussion of Indian Ocean trade between the 8th and 15th centuries.