Cargo on the Intan wreck

In 1997 excavation began on a shipwreck lying at the bottom of the Java Sea, near the Indonesian Intan oil field. The shipwreck, dated to the 10th century, contained an astonishing variety of over 13.000 objects including almost a hundred silver ingots. This ingot, held by the British Museum, is a well-preserved example of the type of ‘tax ingots’ found on board the ship. What can these ingots tell us about the development of currency in Chinese dynastic history? Why were ingots like this on board an Indonesian ship traveling between Sumatra and Java, and what does this tell us about global connections and trade? How did the presence of such ingots among the cargo of the Intan wreck challenge the traditional historiography of the Silk Roads?