The lashed-lug technique remains remarkably homogeneous throughout the entirety of the Austronesian range. The keel and the base of the hull is a simple dugout canoe. Planks are then added gradually to the keel, either by sewing fiber ropes through drilled holes or through the use of internal dowels ("treenails") on the plank edges. Unlike carvel construction and in common with many early boat building methods, the shell of the boat is created first, prior to being fastened to the ribs. The seams between planks are also sealed with absorbent tapa bark and fiber that expands when wet or caulked with resin-based preparations.
The most distinctive aspect of lashed-lug boats are the lugs (also called "cleats" by some authors). These are a series of carved protrusions with holes bored into them on the inside surfaces of the planks which are then lashed tightly together with the lugs on the adjacent planks and to ribs using plaited fiber (usually rattan, coir, and other palm fibers).
Once the shell of the boat is completed, the ribs are then built and lashed to the lugs to further strengthen the structure of the ship, while still retaining the inherent flexibility of the outer hull. The outriggers, when present, are attached with similar lashings to the main hull.
The smallest Austronesian boat (excluding rafts and dugout canoes) characteristically have five parts all put together using the lashed-lug technique. These consist of the dugout keel, two planks that form the strakes, and the end caps for the prow and the stern. Larger ships usually differed in the number of planks used for the strakes, but the construction techniques remain the same.
Lashed-lug techniques are different enough from the shipbuilding methods of South Asia, the Middle East, and China to identify remains of ships found in this region as being Austronesian. Despite this, some lashed-lug Austronesian shipwrecks have been misidentified as Indian or Chinese due to their cargo in the past. Non-Austronesian ships also later adopted lashed-lug techniques from contact with Austronesian traders, the most notable example being the Belitung shipwreck (c.830 CE).
The oldest evidence of the lashed-lug techniques, however, are found on boat-shaped log coffins recovered from Kuala Selinsing in Perak, Malaysia, dated to around the 1st to 2nd centuries CE. Such coffins and other watercraft symbolism are widespread among Austronesian groups throughout Southeast Asia, even among groups with no maritime access, underpinning the ancestral importance of the sea in Austronesian cultures.
Early Scandinavian boats used lashings through cleats (lugs) on the hull planks to attach to the ribs of the boat. An example of this tradition is the Nydam boat, dated to 310-320 CE. This particular boat combined metal fastenings of planks, sewn planks and lashed cleats/lugs connecting to ribs. An earlier example (400-300 BCE), the Hjortspring boat is based on a dugout log which is expanded with sewn clinker planks with integral cleats/lugs lashed to framing. The Gokstad ship also used the lashing of ribs to cleats in the lower parts of the hull, and treenails elsewhere.: 159, 167 Lashed lug also has a general similarity to the Bronze age Ferriby boats in England.: 124
Manguin, Pierre-yves (1 September 2019). "Sewn Boats of Southeast Asia: the stitched-plank and lashed-lug tradition". International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. 48 (2): 400–415. Bibcode:2019IJNAr..48..400M. doi:10.1111/1095-9270.12367. S2CID 202363901. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)
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[dead link]Pham, Charlotte Minh-Hà L. (2012). Asian Shipbuilding Technology (PDF). UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-9223-414-0. 978-92-9223-414-0
Manguin, Pierre-yves (1 September 2019). "Sewn Boats of Southeast Asia: the stitched-plank and lashed-lug tradition". International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. 48 (2): 400–415. Bibcode:2019IJNAr..48..400M. doi:10.1111/1095-9270.12367. S2CID 202363901. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)
Manguin, Pierre-yves (1 September 2019). "Sewn Boats of Southeast Asia: the stitched-plank and lashed-lug tradition". International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. 48 (2): 400–415. Bibcode:2019IJNAr..48..400M. doi:10.1111/1095-9270.12367. S2CID 202363901. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)
[dead link]Pham, Charlotte Minh-Hà L. (2012). Asian Shipbuilding Technology (PDF). UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-9223-414-0. 978-92-9223-414-0
Horridge, Adrian (2006). "The Austronesian Conquest of the Sea - Upwind". In Bellwood, Peter; Fox, James J.; Tryon, Darrell (eds.). The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. ANU E Press. pp. 143–160. doi:10.22459/a.09.2006.07. ISBN 9781920942854. 9781920942854
Horridge, Adrian (2006). "The Austronesian Conquest of the Sea - Upwind". In Bellwood, Peter; Fox, James J.; Tryon, Darrell (eds.). The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. ANU E Press. pp. 143–160. doi:10.22459/a.09.2006.07. ISBN 9781920942854. 9781920942854
Manguin, Pierre-yves (1 September 2019). "Sewn Boats of Southeast Asia: the stitched-plank and lashed-lug tradition". International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. 48 (2): 400–415. Bibcode:2019IJNAr..48..400M. doi:10.1111/1095-9270.12367. S2CID 202363901. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)
Horridge, Adrian (2008). "Origins and Relationships of Pacific Canoes and Rigs" (PDF). In Di Piazza, Anne; Pearthree, Erik (eds.). Canoes of the Grand Ocean. BAR International Series 1802. Archaeopress. ISBN 9781407302898. 9781407302898
Horridge, Adrian (2006). "The Austronesian Conquest of the Sea - Upwind". In Bellwood, Peter; Fox, James J.; Tryon, Darrell (eds.). The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. ANU E Press. pp. 143–160. doi:10.22459/a.09.2006.07. ISBN 9781920942854. 9781920942854
[dead link]Pham, Charlotte Minh-Hà L. (2012). Asian Shipbuilding Technology (PDF). UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-9223-414-0. 978-92-9223-414-0
Horridge, Adrian (2006). "The Austronesian Conquest of the Sea - Upwind". In Bellwood, Peter; Fox, James J.; Tryon, Darrell (eds.). The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. ANU E Press. pp. 143–160. doi:10.22459/a.09.2006.07. ISBN 9781920942854. 9781920942854
Horridge, Adrian (2008). "Origins and Relationships of Pacific Canoes and Rigs" (PDF). In Di Piazza, Anne; Pearthree, Erik (eds.). Canoes of the Grand Ocean. BAR International Series 1802. Archaeopress. ISBN 9781407302898. 9781407302898
Horridge, Adrian (2006). "The Austronesian Conquest of the Sea - Upwind". In Bellwood, Peter; Fox, James J.; Tryon, Darrell (eds.). The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. ANU E Press. pp. 143–160. doi:10.22459/a.09.2006.07. ISBN 9781920942854. 9781920942854
Manguin, Pierre-yves (1 September 2019). "Sewn Boats of Southeast Asia: the stitched-plank and lashed-lug tradition". International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. 48 (2): 400–415. Bibcode:2019IJNAr..48..400M. doi:10.1111/1095-9270.12367. S2CID 202363901. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)
Manguin, Pierre-yves (1 September 2019). "Sewn Boats of Southeast Asia: the stitched-plank and lashed-lug tradition". International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. 48 (2): 400–415. Bibcode:2019IJNAr..48..400M. doi:10.1111/1095-9270.12367. S2CID 202363901. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)
Manguin, Pierre-yves (1 September 2019). "Sewn Boats of Southeast Asia: the stitched-plank and lashed-lug tradition". International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. 48 (2): 400–415. Bibcode:2019IJNAr..48..400M. doi:10.1111/1095-9270.12367. S2CID 202363901. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)
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