<![CDATA[Boat fragments recovered from the Bongal Site provide material evidence for reconstructing the maritime history of Sumatra’s west coast before the development of Lobu Tua–Barus. This study asks what these remains reveal about local boatbuilding practices, maritime connections, and the resources that sustained them. It analyzes 35 fragments—31 wooden components and 4 fiber fragments—using archaeological methods, including morphological, metric, technological, functional, material, contextual, and comparative analyses. The findings identify hull planks, end components, fasteners, fiber lashings, and possible steering-related elements, with varying degrees of certainty. Lugs, wooden dowels, lashings, ridges, and longitudinal joints link the assemblage to the Southeast Asian lashed-lug shipbuilding tradition. Microscopic analysis identified Vatica sp. and Dryobalanops sp., indicating the use of regional tropical forest resources, but did not conclusively establish their provenance. The fragments may derive from more than one vessel or depositional episode. Taken together, they constitute material archives connecting shipbuilding knowledge, forest resources, coastal mobility, and Indian Ocean exchange between the seventh and tenth centuries CE, while possessing significant scientific, educational, and cultural heritage value.]]>
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