700 year old Chinese shipwreck excavated

[Imperial Dave]

https://www.livescience.com/60753-china-shipwreck-from-mongols-era.html

not my field of interest normally and fascinated more by the mechanism of preservation than the details of the wreck itself

[Patrick Waterson]

The modern outlook of the archaeologists is highlighted by the following:

"The researchers also found the ship's control system, which  included a tiller located just above the control room on the ship's deck, the archaeologists wrote."

Or perhaps something was lost, or gained, in translation.  Mandarin-to-English has been at times an approximate art.

[Imperial Dave]

The modern outlook of the archaeologists is highlighted by the following:

"The researchers also found the ship's control system, which  included a tiller located just above the control room on the ship's deck, the archaeologists wrote."

Or perhaps something was lost, or gained, in translation.  Mandarin-to-English has been at times an approximate art.

and thus is how errors creep into writings....

[Patrick Waterson]

and thus is how errors creep into writings....

The reason being the change in technology over the period.  Were we still using wooden sailing ships, the terminology would have corresponded.

[Imperial Dave]

sometimes translations lack exact words that convey the true (contemporary) meaning

[Patrick Waterson]

sometimes translations lack exact words that convey the true (contemporary) meaning

True enough*, although in this case the concept of a tiller (and its appurtenant rudder, or the other way around) is well established in English.

*Anyone remember 'deformed man toilet' from the Peking Olympics?

But a 'control room' in a junk???  That is a misconception of modernity, not a deficient dictionary.  I wonder if the same team of archaeologists will refer to a Command Information Centre in Yuan Chinese warships ...

It is also intriguing that the vessel had "a hull sectioned into 12 cabins by 12 bulkheads," which is physically impossible - unless the missing 'cabin' is the 'control room'.

Anyway, nit-picking of the Shandong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology's choice of vocabulary aside, thanks for posting this article, Dave.

[Imperial Dave]

*Anyone remember 'deformed man toilet' from the Peking Olympics?

[Patrick Waterson]

*Anyone remember 'deformed man toilet' from the Peking Olympics?

Yes, they meant 'disabled toilet' (i.e. facilities for the disabled) but did not get the meaning quite right.