What is the artifact?
The artifact is a cannon.The name of artifact is Bronze Malay Cannon
Other than just a weapon use in war, Malay Cannons were used for decoration, fighting and defense, communication, marking royal occasions, conferring of awards and titles, last but not least, currency and status symbol.
Decoration – Cannons were installed in boats to decorate and to show up the importance of the boat owners. If a vessel did not install any cannon, it was considered not fully decorated or equipped. A small boat will carry 4-6 miniature cannons where a ship will carry at least full size cannon.
Fighting and Defense – As piracy was prevalent in the Malay Archipelago, coastal and water vessels were the major modes of transportation and hence boats were equipped with cannons for fighting and defense. Those which had cannons were perceived to have greater advantage over those which only relied on blow-pipe, arrows, spear and sword. Villagers in small isolated villages lived in constant fear of pirates whose ships were equipped with cannons. The poor villagers once captured, would be taken as slaves and their possession plundered.
Communication – Cannons were fired for signal and warning and usually placed on forts, riverbank or mouth, hill overlooking the sea. Firing the cannon will signal the approach enemies or suspicious vessel. Boats returning to ports sometime do fired cannons as successful voyage. Among the Malays, cannons were used to mark the beginning and ending of the fasting month, Ramadan.
Marking Royal Occasions – Cannons are part of the royal family ceremonies especially in the Sultanate of Brunei. They were fired on during royal occasions like birth of the price, and princess, royal wedding, circumcision ceremony and coronation of the Sultan.
Conferring of Awards and Titles – On occasions where titles and awards were conferred in some Malay Kingdoms, cannons firing signal the celebration. Recipients of senior titles were also presented gifts of the cannon of various sizes together with the ranked uniform and money reward.
Currency and Status Symbol – Amount the native folks of Borneo, the cannon played a major role in their traditional life. The cannon served as the monetary tender and as a status symbol.
Identify and describe 3 differences to its modern day version.
In modern day,cannons are use as naval warfare in ships in war ships/military ships/battle ships.The cannon are used for defense or offensive purposes in war ships so as to protect the ship from other naval war ship or aerial attack.
Cannons are also used in music such as in classical pieces with a military cannon.This pieces are created by people wearing ear protection from the cannon fire.They able to hear the music though.This helps them create music for military songs.
Cannons are also used in cannon in aircrafts.They are usually automated to shoot(as in angles and position) but are manually used to fire them.This cannon in the aircrafts were first used during the World War II
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