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Boats Of The World: From The Stone Age To Medieval Times
Abstract
Maritime archaeology, the study of man's early encounter with the rivers and seas of the world, only came to the fore in the last decades of the twentieth century, long after its parent discipline, terrestrial archaeology, had been established. Yet there were seamen long before there were farmers, navigators before there were potters, and boat builders before there were wainwrights. In this book Professor McGrail attempts to correct some of the imbalance in our knowledge of the past by presenting the evidence for the building and use of early water transport: rafts, boats, and ships. Professor McGrail presents a history of water transport as it has developed over millennia, from before 40,000 BC to the mid-second millennium AD. The coverage is world-wide: from the Baltic and North Seas to the Bay of Bengal and the Tasman Sea; and from the Gulf of Mexico to the China Seas and the Baring Strait.
... L'effectif des épaves résultant de cette profusion est somme toute assez élevé : leur recensement, à l'échelle de l'Europe occidentale (Lanting, 1997(Lanting, -1998, de l'Europe centrale (Arnold, 1995(Arnold, et 1996, de la France (Cordier, 1963(Cordier, et 1972 ou de l'Irlande du Nord (Fry, 2000), permet d'avancer un effectif de plus de 3 500 individus, ce qui produit un signal unique dans l'enregistrement archéologique des vestiges navals. Dans ce domaine, on ne peut en effet identifier, pour les périodes préindustrielles, que quelques exemples de familles architecturales rassemblant un ensemble de bateaux apparentés par leur morphologie, leur structure et leurs organes techniques, ainsi que par une filiation historique (McGrail, 2001 ;Rieth, 2010Rieth, et 2016. Aucune n'approche, même de loin, l'effectif des pirogues monoxyles. ...
... Or, si ce concept d'architecture nautique se déploie depuis le foisonnement des forêts primaires de l'Holocène, il n'est selon toute vraisemblance pas resté unique ni peut-être majoritaire. De nombreux arguments conduisent à soutenir l'hypothèse d'une diversité d'embarcations, au côté des premiers monoxyles, voire avant eux (McGrail, 1987(McGrail, et 2001Izarra, 1993 ;Alonso Romero, 1995 ;Marangou, 2001 ;Philippe, 2018Philippe, et 2022Markoulaki, 2021). Il a probablement existé, dès l'origine, et avant même les premiers monoxyles, une vaste variété de bateaux composites légers à la coque en peau ou en écorce, voire en gerbes végétales. ...
... À l'intérieur de chaque groupe, il peut exister plusieurs procédés : par exemple, pour les bateaux d'écorce, ils divergent radicalement selon que l'essence utilisée permet ou non l'autoportance de l'enveloppe (Arnold, 2021). À partir de cette gamme complète utilisée sur la planète dans le domaine nautique (milieux fluviaux, lacustres, estuariens, maritimes ; tous usages), la démarche prospective, théorisée par S. McGrail (1987McGrail ( , 1991McGrail ( et 2001, va consister à ouvrir le champ des possibles et à en délimiter les contours, en fonction de la zone géographique et du segment de temps considérés. Elle va se dérouler en quatre segments : ...
On the European Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, as well as on rivers and lakes, the use of water transport is not in doubt, from at least the beginning of the 9th millennium BC, to judge both from direct evidence (paddles and wrecks) and from the evidence of coastal and island movements. Research into earlier, Late Pleistocene, island mobility is hindered on the Atlantic side of Europe (in contrast to the Mediterranean) by the loss of the Ice Age coastlines, as well as of the huge territory that extended along the Channel River and across Doggerland (North Sea), through flooding by eustatic sea level change. However, it is very likely that groups used boats in Europe as early as the upper Palaeolithic, if we bear in mind the global picture of pioneering maritime colonizations. Therefore, in all likelihood, the lands and coasts of Western Europe will have experienced a long and complex nautical history, of which only very faint traces remain.
In envisaging these first journeys, and particularly in considering the boats then used, logboats dominate the scene. These boats are well represented among the wrecks excavated in estuaries, river basins and lakes. Since the 9th-8th millennium BC, when the first example in the archaeological record in Western Europe was used, this same basic “construction principle” (i.e. the architectural design of the boat) has been in use throughout the ages to the present day, where a tradition of expanded logboats is still alive in Slovenia. Over many generations, construction methods have progressively integrated a number of innovations, mainly with the aim of increasing the boats’ load capacity (expansion, raising, etc.). A monoxylous base can even be identified in some of the early plank boatbuilding traditions that were used in historical times.
The number of wrecks resulting from these long-lasting traditions is high: in Europe, the inventory total stands at over 3,500 examples, which gives us a unique signal in the archaeological record of nautical remains. In this field, only a few examples of “architectural families” can be identified for the pre-industrial periods, bringing together a group of boats related by morphology, structure and technical attributes, as well as by historical filiation. None of these “families” even remotely approaches the number of logboats known.
However, within this substantial corpus, fewer than 20% of the specimens have been dated by radiocarbon or dendrochronology. Because of their dependence on the raw material, it is not easy to identify typo-chronological trends among these monoxylous vessels, many of which were very simply fashioned as close to the shape of the log as possible. Their chronological attribution is therefore a matter of absolute dating alone, and thus only this small proportion can be taken into account for study. There is a predominance of logboats dating from the Middle Ages to the present day: these represent between 45% and 60% of the corpus. Logboats from the prehistoric and protohistoric periods remain few in number. There are only 17 examples in a Mesolithic context, half of which belong to the Danish Final Ertebølle, with a strong LBK influence. There are fewer than 30 Neolithic logboats, and Chalcolithic and Bronze Age examples are similarly sparse. For the Iron Age, fewer than 20 are known. Across seven millennia and over a geographical area on the scale of Europe, we therefore have only about 100 examples. As with other organic archaeological remains, the number of examples decreases with the passage of time, making it more difficult to contextualize them.
In estuaries, logboats remain the only type of pre-2nd millennium boat that has survived to us, and on inland waters (except in the Danube basin), they are currently the only boat type to survive prior to the Roman conquest. While logboats will no doubt have been common from the beginning of the Holocene period, when primary forests proliferated, they were probably not the only type of boat to be used, nor were they necessarily the commonest. There are good grounds to hypothesize that diverse types of watercraft existed, using various construction principles, alongside or even pre-dating monoxylous vessels. These will have included various kinds of light boat featuring a frame made from plant or animal elements, their hulls covered by skins or bark (i.e. curragh-, coracle- and kayak-like vessels), and it may be that vessels made using reed bundles were also in use. To this range, from the 2nd millennium BC at least, several types of plank-built boat were added, and these increased in number and complexity over time. On inland waters, numerous types of raft and ferry made from linked trunks or reed bundles probably coexisted with these boats. The great scarcity of remains from these boats could be due to multiple causes, including the differential conservation of perishable materials, the recycling of components and the breakdown of the assembled structures. In contrast to logboats, all these craft are the result of an assembly of individual elements that can, once abandoned on the shore, become detached and degrade into fragments too far removed from their original architecture to be easily recognisable: a fragment of raft shaft, a structural rib or lath of a skin boat, or a single plank. In contrast, thanks to their compact woody mass offering good resistance to burial, and to the common practice of deliberately sinking them during periods of unemployment in order to ensure their longevity, logboats have ended up much better preserved than their assembled counterparts, thereby making this particular vessel design “hyper-visible” and over-represented in the archaeological record.
What might be the contours of this nautical diversity that is only partially revealed to us? The purpose of this paper is to open up and delimit the field of possibilities, starting, with all due respect, with an interest in the majestic barrel which, in contrast to the invisibility of the others, becomes the “tree that obscures the forest”.
... Un caso paradigmático de este fenómeno es una supuesta miniatura de balsa de dos haces de fibras vegetales o caballito de totora recuperada a comienzos de la década de 1960 por el etnólogo suizo Jean-Christian Spahni en la desembocadura del río Loa, al norte de Chile. La descripción y el dibujo original de Spahni (1967a) han sido reproducidos y modificados por más de medio siglo, sin que un solo juicio enfrente sus interpretaciones (Álvarez, 1999;Béarez et al., 2016;Berenguer, 2008Berenguer, , 2009Bittmann, 1978Bittmann, , 1984Bittmann y Munizaga, 1984;Carabias, 2000;Cardona, 2008;Carter, 2016;Castro, 2014;Castro et al., 2016;Gould, 2000;Johnstone, 1980;Llagostera, 1982Llagostera, , 1990McGrail, 1981McGrail, , 2004Núñez, L., 1984Núñez, L., , 1986Núñez, P., 2009;Núñez y Contreras, 2009;Ortiz, 1990Ortiz, , 2003Ortiz, , 2019Prieto, 2014Prieto, , 2016. ...
... Especialistas de renombre en el tema de la navegación y de distintos países vecinos, norteamericanos y europeos, citan la balsa de dos haces de totora de la desembocadura del Loa como prueba de su uso temprano -datado hacia el 215 DC-en el norte de Chile, y con ello en todo los Andes (Béarez et al., 2016;Cardona, 2008; Carter, estudios atacameños. Arqueología y Antropología Surandinas 2022, 68: e4690 2016; Gould, 2000;Johnstone, 1980;McGrail, 1981McGrail, , 2004Ortiz, 1990Ortiz, , 2003Ortiz, , 2019Prieto, 2014Prieto, , 2016. ...
... A esta altura del citatorio, el flujo indirecto de información entre los textos es tal que en algunos casos ya ni siquiera se hace referencia al artículo original de Spahni, sino a biografías intermedias y posteriores, tanto secundarias como terciarias (Béarez et al., 2016;Berenguer, 2009;Carabias, 2000;Cardona, 2008;Carter, 2016;McGrail, 1981McGrail, , 2004Ortiz, 2003;Prieto, 2014Prieto, , 2016. Incluso en ciertas publicaciones se citan escritos que no mencionan al etnólogo, la balsa o las embarcaciones de totora para referirse a ella (Castro et al., 2016). ...
Una balsa de totora ronda en la arqueología chilena desde 1967. Biografía tras biografía, a partir de la pieza original se creó un nuevo objeto, ahora virtual y diferente a su antecesor. La supuesta nave en miniatura se consolidó como una prueba irrefutable de la antigüedad de estas embarcaciones y de la navegación prehispánica en el norte de Chile y los Andes. El reciente estudio del objeto depositado en el Musée d’ethnographie de Genève en Suiza revela que más que una balsa corresponde a un atado de fibras vegetales, una variedad de artefacto habitual en los contextos funerarios del Período Formativo del norte de Chile, descritos como brochas, escobillas, peines o paquetes de materia prima. La confusión inicial de Jean-Christian Spahni y las reproducciones de sus biógrafos/as posteriores sirven de insumo para discutir cómo se construye la evidencia arqueológica y de qué manera se narra el relato en la prehistoria.
... Therefore, the LN copper awls, chisels, saws, scrapers and axes, attested at various Neolithic sites of the Aegean and mainland Greece, would have further facilitated the Neolithic craftsman [11][12]17]. These technologies indicate an enhanced toolkit that would have increased the capacity of constructing more seaworthy and spacious logboat types, such as the expanded and extended ones, possibly since the beginning of the Neolithic [18][19]. ...
... Ethnographic evidence and experimental work have suggested that these tools would also enable the production and shaping of planks for the construction of more seaworthy, plank-built boats at least since LN and definitely during EBA [11,17,[19][20][21][22][23]. Further answers can be sought in the Aegean carpentry and architecture, attested since the EN [24]. ...
The hundreds of recently discovered LN-EBA rock-art images of boats from the Aegean Basin, Greece, highlighted their design and structural details. Additionally, their dating in the transition from LN to EBA offers an uninterrupted continuum of the Neolithic boat evolution. A technologically rigorous methodology was incorporated for their analysis by exploiting the concepts of reverse engineering, climatic design and the tools offered by ship science. This enabled their reconstruction and testing, providing insights into their technical traits, such as stability and resistance. These favour the view that trading, gateway communities and seagoing boats have a more dynamic history in a long Aegean tradition that goes back as far as the Neolithic.
... Scholarship has attempted to derive measures and understandings of sailing mobility from the factors that determine sailing ship mobility: (a) the wind, (b) the ships' sailing performance envelope, and (c) the mariners' preferences and limitations. Qualitative works suggesting ancient sailing routes have referred to the limited available documentary evidence in support of their derived understandings (Arnaud, 2005;McGrail, 2004;Pryor, 1988). Scholars have also suggested coastal sailing, exploiting land and sea breezes, as an alternative or supplementary method of advance when passages encountered contrary prevailing winds (Casson, 1950, p. 46;McGrail, 2004, p. 94;Morton, 2001, p. 145;Murray, 1993, p. 40;Pryor, 1988, pp. 13-15, 89-90). ...
... 1300 BCE-ca. 700 CE) (thereafter 'the period') (Casson, 1995;McGrail, 2004;Wachsmann, 1998;Whitewright, 2018). The mapping was performed by applying results of the method for measuring potential sailing mobility both on direct sailing passages (Gal et al., 2021a) and on coastal breeze-driven sailing passages (Gal et al., 2021b). ...
... Scholarship has attempted to derive measures and understandings of sailing mobility from the factors that determine sailing ship mobility: (a) the wind, (b) the ships' sailing performance envelope, and (c) the mariners' preferences and limitations. Qualitative works suggesting ancient sailing routes have referred to the limited available documentary evidence in support of their derived understandings (Arnaud, 2005;McGrail, 2004;Pryor, 1988). Scholars have also suggested coastal sailing, exploiting land and sea breezes, as an alternative or supplementary method of advance when passages encountered contrary prevailing winds (Casson, 1950, p. 46;McGrail, 2004, p. 94;Morton, 2001, p. 145;Murray, 1993, p. 40;Pryor, 1988, pp. 13-15, 89-90). ...
... 1300 BCE-ca. 700 CE) (thereafter 'the period') (Casson, 1995;McGrail, 2004;Wachsmann, 1998;Whitewright, 2018). The mapping was performed by applying results of the method for measuring potential sailing mobility both on direct sailing passages (Gal et al., 2021a) and on coastal breeze-driven sailing passages (Gal et al., 2021b). ...
A comprehensive mapping of potential sailing mobility was performed for the eastern and central Mediterranean basins. The mapping is based on newly developed methods for measuring potential sailing mobility of merchant ships with a loose-footed square sail in Antiquity, both for direct passages and for coastal sailing. The metrics of the measured direct and coastal sailing passages generate new measures of potential sailing mobility that provide new insights into the functioning of maritime links. The study also applies the measurements to several case studies in historical context including mapping of potential sailing mobility for the grain shipments from Egypt to Rome and the potential sailing mobility of Phoenician maritime links between the Levant and colonies to the west. The mappings reveal the bottlenecks for westward sailing from the Levant in the summer months. The mappings also highlight the bi-directional sailing links that could be maintained throughout the summer season despite the prevailing Etesian winds. The mappings contribute to deeper understanding of seafaring options and challenges during Antiquity.
... In 1948, a team of archaeologists discovered a peculiar object buried in a medieval convent in Greenland (McGrail, 2014;Seaver, 1996). It was made of wood, about 7 centimeters in diameter, and only a part of it was preserved. ...
Deciphering ancient navigation methods has long intrigued scientists and historians. This study explores the use of a Sunstone, an ancient Viking tool, alongside a compass to determine solar positions under various weather conditions, particularly fog. The objective was to understand how
different atmospheric conditions impact solar position detection and its implications for modern applications. The study was conducted at the San Juan Reservoir, located in the municipality of San Martín de Valdeiglesias in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Calcite was used as the solar stone due to its ability to polarize light. Two different routes around the reservoir were undertaken under sunny and cloudy weather conditions. A single route was conducted under light, moderate, and dense fog conditions, followed by rigorous statistical analysis. Under clear skies, Sunstone readings correlated positively with solar intensity, while compass readings remained consistent. However, the study's key findings emerged under foggy conditions. Despite a
decrease in observed solar intensity as fog density increased, the Sunstone demonstrated a resilient capability to discern solar positions consistently. Statistical analyses revealed a moderate positive correlation between observed intensity and solar position in light fog, which diminished with denser fog. These findings have significant implications for navigation and solar energy planning, emphasizing the need to consider atmospheric conditions when using ancient navigation tools in modern contexts. This research highlights the challenges and potential of applying these ancient methods today, forming a foundation for further studies and practical applications.
... In contrast to the consistency of paddle design, canoes exhibit surprising diversity for such a small, ethnically homogeneous community. All four of the basic dugout canoe "types" (as described by McGrail, 2001aMcGrail, :178-179, 1978 are present: simple or basic; expanded; extended; and complex. Basic dugouts are formed by carving only, with no other construction techniques applied. ...
Dugout canoes, once ubiquitous among most of Guyana's Indigenous people, have decreased in importance with the proliferation of roads, air travel, and power boats. This ethnographic case study examines the continued, pervasive use dugout canoes in the Warrau village of Imbotero in Region 1. It describes how the canoe provides essential mobility in the village and enables the economic exploitation of the surrounding swamp. The canoe's role in the creation of a cultural landscape is considered, along with its importance as a living heritage.
... There are two other boat sculptures of the medieval period from ancient Orissa preserved in the museums of Victoria and Albert Museum, London, one of which is labelled as Khelana (toy) instead, the name of the boat is supposed to be Khulana as it is known for Bhowmick (2005). An illustration of a boat pettoo-a "from Balassora or the coast of Palmira" by a Flemish Marine painter Frans Balthazar Salvyns displayed in the National Maritime Museum Greenwich, which is the reminiscent of Patia boat of Orissa (Behera, 1999;McGrail, 2001;McGrail et al., 2003). The construction of the Patia boat is considered as one of the most complex traditional boats in the world (Bhattacharrya, 2006;Blue et al., 1997). ...
Drawing from historical accounts, cultural practices, archaeological discoveries, and indigenous technical knowledge, the research presents a critical review of varied aspects of the construction of the Konark temple and presents future research directions. To fulfill the purpose, documents were sourced from Scopus, Google Scholar, and ancient texts and palm leaves. Findings suggest the legacy of Narasimhadeva I, the Hindu monarch who remained undefeated during his reign, safeguarded the kingdom from encroaching Muslim rulers. The narrative highlights the bravery of a faithful elephant that revived the king on the battlefield. The Konark temple was built with the dual purpose of showcasing the glory of his victory and devotion to the Sun God. The ancient artisans’ knowledge, skills, and commitment were crucial in erecting this tallest temple structure. The investigation further illuminates the use of sea routes for transporting monumental stones, the ingenuity in laying the temple’s foundation, the selection of high-grade stones, the monumental task of lifting colossal stones, like the world’s heaviest stone hoisted to a height of about two hundred feet, the use of rust-resistant iron, and the application of advanced astronomical knowledge by ancient artisans. The study provides insights into ancient engineering ingenuity, encouraging further exploration of the enduring legacy of the Konark temple’s construction.
... As and Archaeological Association of Ireland' of 1872. Literature apart from the above material is sparse; however the analysis of this material will form the basis from which a methodology for experiment will be formed in conjunction with a review of information from a further three key authors: James Hornell (1946), Paul Johnstone (1980) and Sean Mc Grail (1987 and2001), who would be considered key global authorities on past nautical affairs and ancient craft. This review focuses initially on bundle rush rafts and experimentation in Ireland, and then proceeds to briefly examine the extent of experimentation on reed and rush vessels classifiable as rafts used elsewhere around the world for possible methodological formative purposes. ...
Were it not for the research of James Delaney for the Folklore Commission in the 1950s and 1960s in Co. Roscommon, and the resultant construction by Patrick Gately of a ‘Clee Hollaga’, little would be ever have been known of the existence of bundle rush rafts in Ireland apart from a few obscure 19th century indications. This thesis revisits, analyses and reinterprets Delaney’s archived research and the few obscure literary references to such craft in Ireland. It was realised that Gately’s construction bore little resemblance to any of the ethnographic, descriptive evidence. His rush raft was total conjecture, and its existence as a museum exhibit has predisposed the small number of experimental practitioners to date to repeat what has been undertaken before. Experimental reconstructions of bundle rush rafts in Ireland have been heavily influenced by Gately’s ‘original’ with no variation in experimentation ever having occurred since. This repetition, though immensely valuable experientially to the individual, contributes little to further our understanding of the past. It may limit, and in the case of the potential use of bundle rush rafts, mislead both public and archaeologists to believe that such craft were limited to being a basic rowing craft only in use in the 19th and early 20th century. To overcome this limitation and expand the potential for bundle rush raft use in Ireland, the author conducted an experimental archaeology project with the intention of exploring and understanding the potential of rushes, sheathed into bundles for the formation of rafts.
... T he answers to these questions have changed in recent decades, and much of what I learned about the initial peopling of the Americas and the archaeology of seafaring as a college student in the 1970s and 1980s now appears to have been wrong. More recent summaries by archaeologists and maritime historians now recognize a deeper history for coastal adaptations, human seafaring, and maritime migrations (Anderson et al. 2010;Bailey 2004;Erlandson 2001;McGrail 2001). Why did scholars misinterpret the antiquity of maritime peoples for so long? ...
In this short article, I summarize current research on the antiquity of seafaring in the Pacific and it's implications for the peopling of the Americas.
... The call for more integrated studies, in which the social context plays a central role, has led to a series of works that are now international references (Blue, 1997;McGrail, 2001;Vermonden, 2003;Ransley, 2009). ...
The aim of this article and the research mission that originated the work described here is to evaluate the scientific potential of the maritime cultural heritage of São Tomé and Príncipe. Based on the available data, only one article on the archaeological potential of the islands has been published, in 2022. The work presented here focuses on the study of São Toméan canoes, documenting and understanding their manufacturing process from the cutting of the tree to their use on the water. Therefore, this work has more to do with ethnography than with nautical and maritime archaeology in its genesis. The symbiosis between these disciplines arises from the necessity to document traditions, ways of life, and vessels that are rapidly disappearing on a daily basis. The tradition of crafting crafts from trees is disappearing due to the loss of forests and the difficulty in finding suitable trees and species. Additionally, younger generations lack interest in this tradition, and fibreglass has been introduced as an alternative. This study aims to analyze and compare an almost forgotten island reality that struggles to survive.
... Direct archaeological evidence is unavailable for Taiwan, as conditions do not favor preservation, but outside of Taiwan, Dong Son bronze drums (2600-1800 BP) can feature warriors on boats, such as in a recent find from Timor-Leste (Oliveira, O'Connor, and Bellwood 2019), which may be the earliest iconographic evidence for a seafaring vessel in this region. Sparse archaeological evidence of log canoes with possible and planking occurs at Tanjong Rawa (Malaysia), dated to as early as 1800-1700 BP (McGrail 2001;Sieveking 1956). Dating to 1200-1000 BP in Mindanao (Philippines), Butuan boats are found without traces of metal fastenings, characteristic of plank boats in Island Southeast Asia (Lacsina 2016). ...
... DOYLE 1998: 85. 8 CASSON 1995 DOYLE 1998: 103; EDGERTON 1927: 257;MCGRAIL 2004: 33. 9 EDGERTON 1927 DOYLE 1998: 103; GILMER 1999: 178; STEPHENS 2012: 66. ...
... Pourtant, les solutions de navigation qui accompagnaient cet investissement ont laissé bien peu de traces matérielles. Pour les périodes pré-mécaniques européennes, sur une dizaine de millénaires et des milliers de kilomètres de cours d'eau et de lacs, on ne peut identifier que quelques exemples de familles architecturales qui rassemblent un ensemble de bateaux apparentés par la morphologie, la structure et les organes techniques, ainsi que par une filiation historique (McGrail 2001 ;Rieth 2010 ;Rieth 2016). Au sein de ces vestiges, la surreprésentation des pirogues monoxyles du Moyen Âge pointe du doigt le principal facteur à l'origine de cette pénurie : la conservation différentielle des matières organiques. ...
Archaeological record of transport on inland waters in independent Gaul: where are the boats? Documentary evidence evoke an abundance of nautical activity in independent Gaul. However, the navigational solutions can only be known by indirect evidence and fleeting vestiges. We must indeed contend with the great rarity of key data: the boats themselves, which are only known today from a few dugout wrecks. Despite the limitations of the evidence, it is possible to open and demarcate the field of possibilities — much wider than just the logboats. One can assume the co-existence of three principal architectural types of wooden boats in inland waters: logboats, logboats based plank boats, and plank boats. Some sources allow us to suggest, at the same time, the survival of boats made of animal hide stretched over a pre-assembled organic frame. The multiplicity of uses and traditions also suggests a variety of rafts and ferryboats. Finally, the paucity of wrecks dating from the last centuries before our era will also be considered, compared to the (relative) abundance of wrecks from the first centuries of Roman Gaul: is this a reflection of reality or of the current state of research? We will suggest ways to identify some unrecognised fragments, far removed from their original architecture.
... What sets the spiling stick apart, however, is that the tool predates the discovery of the mathematics necessary to describe its operation. The formulae in this paper rely on calculus, developed in the late seventeenth century, while evidence of the spiling process exists on seagoing and estuary vessels from at least as early as the second century (McGrail, 2004). In contrast, the polar planimeter was invented by a Swiss mathematician to solve the long-standing puzzle of whether the area of an irregular shape could be calculated through a mechanical measurement of its perimeter (Care, 2004). ...
This paper considers a historical boat building practice in light of Runeson’s (Scan J Psychol 18:172–179, 1977) concept of ‘smart instruments’, tools that exploit particular features of situated processes to aid their users in complex cognitive operations. The key example here is that of the ‘spiling stick,’ a flexible baton used to determine the two-dimensional shape of board stock that will eventually twist to fit a three-dimensional position on the hull of a ship. The authors illustrate the complexity of the cognitive operation carried out by the ‘coupled system’ (Clark and Chalmers in Analysis 58:7–19, 1998) of boat builder and spiling stick by performing a comparable operation solely with advanced math and physics, tools unavailable for most of the history of wooden boat building. The notion of a ‘smart instrument’ is then discussed in more detail as the authors argue that spiling need not be seen as a mathematical operation supported by material aids, but rather that math and materials provide equal routes for comparable cognitive work.
... In the past decades, both qualitative (Murray 1993;McGrail 2001;Morton 2001;Arnaud 2022a) and quantitative (Whitewright 2011; Alberti 2018; Safadi and Sturt 2019; Gal et al. 2023) studies have already acknowledged the existence of both these sailing options under normal, daylight conditions. As a consequence, they elaborated different navigational models that can be applied to understanding the status of maritime connections during Antiquity in different areas of the Mediterranean Sea (Safadi and Sturt 2019; Trapero Fernández and Aragón 2022; Gal et al. 2023). ...
The practice of nocturnal navigation in the Mediterranean Sea could be inferred from both archaeological and written records. While there is sufficient proof that the ships and their crew were quite familiar with nighttime sailing, current scholarship has not satisfactorily investigated how the reduction of visibility could have affected the nautical practice. For this reason, the aim of this contribution is twofold: (1) to evaluate to what extent visibility was reduced at night, and (2) to understand what kind of strategies (if any) could be put in place to overcome the difficulties of a low level of visibility. Amongst the strategies, we will also assess the impact on visibility of fixed and portable lighting devices, such as torches and pierced amphoras, as documented by the archaeological and literary evidence.
... On the one hand, the river was a threat during floods and ice jams, but on the other, it provided work, both permanent (fishing, ferry crossings) and seasonal (rafting), provided convenient transport and facilitated trade. To transport passengers and goods, many types of river-going vessels were used (McGrail, 2002;Ossowski, 2010;Reszka, 2012). They differed in size (tonnage) and load type. ...
The article presents a trend in rural and small-town architecture, in central Poland, consisting in the reuse of material from river-going vessels. As part of the research, twenty objects (existing and non-extant) were identified that had been constructed using material from wooden vessels that had navigated the Vistula River in the past (nineteenth and twentieth centuries). There was also a reinterpretation of the origin of construction material from a farm building that had been moved in the 1980s from near the Vistula to one of Polish open-air museums. The results indicate that these are probably the last material traces of a boat mill that operated on the Vistula in the late nineteenth century. Also, many preserved millstones embedded in buildings located near the Vistula seem to confirm this conclusion.
... The timbers of even a poorly preserved wreck site, even without cargo, offers clues on shipbuilding techniques and the vessel's capabilities. The existing literature on ships' remains worldwide includes notable findings, such as of hull remains in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia (Heng 2019;McGrail 2001McGrail , 2015. These findings support the historical accounts of ships and their shipping routes. ...
... Although some authors have shown clear interest in the study of ships and ship technology through the use of iconography (Ewe 1972;Flatman 2007;Heinsius 1956;Mol 1929;Unger 1991;Villain-Gandossi 1985 and, its largest benefits within our field are still yet to come. In a similar way, while some authors have shown clear interest in the use of documentation (Basch 1972;McGrail 2001) and in depth handling of a great amount of data, it seems its application in full is still to come in the general extent of the discipline. There are of course some cases of its use, such as Christian Ahlstrom's Looking for Leads (1997). ...
p>This research deals with the development of scientific methodology within maritime archaeology, how knowledge is constructed and the different theoretical complexions represented in a wide range of countries, researchers, and how they look at the archaeological maritime heritage. The processes of interpretation and the very different ways this and similar concepts are conceived by the maritime archaeologists are at the core of this work: how does the archaeologist interpret or explain maritime aspects of culture? Therefore, rather than a history of maritime archaeology, this is a critical history of its ideas and changes.
Also, this research pictures the place this field has within other studies of culture and human nature, aiming for a definition of maritime anthropology as a general corpus of knowledge to be directly related to the maritime aspects of culture and with particular attention to archaeology. A number of epistemological models and tools are applied.
Also the development of maritime archaeology in Latin America is starting to draw attention within other research communities. Therefore, it is taken as a metaphor for the development of the field as its emergent development in Latin America is running parallel to its theoretical development in the region and worldwide.
This study is also a platform to find the tools for a better construction of maritime archaeology in Latin America, due to the links this research has with its development in different countries. Following this line of constructing maritime archaeology in Latin America, under the codes and methodologies of best practice, a case study was set to incorporate sound theoretical elements directly into field driven research. The scenario is the Atlantic coast of Uruguay; a country where real maritime archaeology faces more than its natural challenges, as it needs as well as to deal with the antagonistic reality of intense treasure hunting.</p
The report is based on the recording of a Balinese jukung undertaken during a field trip to the EISCA's ‘A World of Boats’ collection in Eyemouth (Scotland), organised and financed by the University of Southampton Centre for Maritime Archaeology and directed by Dr Lucy Blue. The report was prepared for the Nautical Archaeology Society in partial fulfilment of the Part 2 Intermediate Certificate in Foreshore and Underwater Archaeology. It is a product of its time and should be treated as such.
In Chapter 2 the evolution of ship structures from the prehistoric period up to the present day is described. The aim of this chapter is to bring together the results of underwater archaeology with that of documents, images and models in order to underline the important stages in the evolution of waterborne craft, focusing on structural design and construction practice. The discussion concerning the prehistoric period deals mainly with Egypt and Greece. Fabrication methods used in antiquity are discussed (laced ships, mortise-and-tenon joint). A section is devoted to ship construction in Greece during the historical period (trieris and later ship types). This is followed by descriptions of ships built during the later Roman period and Byzantium covering the first ten centuries of the Christian era. Ship construction practice in Venice is discussed, followed by a discussion of ship construction in China. Evolution of ships in Western Europe included several ship types (cog, hulk, carrack, caravel and galleon). The impact of the introduction of iron and internal combustion engines is discussed. Theoretical developments in mechanics of materials and elasticity theory are discussed in relation to the practice of ship structural design during the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. The chapter ends with a discussion of computer-based techniques and the introduction of reliability theory.
En gennemgang af det sydvestjyske gravmateriale fra jernalder og vikingetid viser, atder i området mellem Esbjerg og Ribe findes 16 bådbegravelser af forskellig udformning,nemlig stammebåde, udspændte stammebåde og klinkbyggede båddele. Ud frabådenes datering og konstruktion er det muligt at følge den teknologiske udvikling,som oldtidens både (og skibe) gennemgik fra simpel stammebåd til klinkbygget fartøj.Det er interessant, at selvom bådgrave primært knytter sig til en førkristen begravelsesskik,så er der også fundet et lille antal på vikingetidskirkegården ved domkirkeni Ribe. Dette rejser nye spørgsmål omkring tolkningen af oldtidsbådens rolle i religiøshenseende.
The paintings of Laja Alta rock shelter (Cadiz) have generated an intense debate regarding their chronological affiliation since their first publication. This research project made it possible to obtain the first analytical data for an interpretation of their cultural significance. This article provides a synthesis of the controversies generated, clarifies the data obtained and contextualizes all the painted motifs represented. The obtained conclusions, avoiding hypothetical prejudices, corroborate the neolithic-chalcolithic cultural context of the naval motifs. These conclusions allow new perspectives of research about the earliest navigation by sailing ship between the Mediterranean and Atlantic.
Global Ships examines the major seafaring traditions and technologies that engendered long-distance connections across the world's oceans during the Global Middle Ages. Between the years 500–1500 CE, maritime trade networks spanning the seas globalized commodities, religions, and trade diasporas in an increasingly mobile world. Focusing on shipbuilding traditions, nautical cultures, sailing itineraries, and examples of recovered shipwrecks and cargoes from around the world, Global Ships provides an expert overview of the major vessels that sailed the seas in the Global Middle Ages. A concise interpretive guide to global maritime technologies and cultures for researchers, teachers, and students, Global Ships highlights essential historical context, technological case studies, and logics of seafaring around the world before the modern age.
Sobre la fina lengua de tierra que sostiene la Troncal del Caribe (RN90), separando la Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta y el Mar Caribe, se ubica una comunidad de pescadores artesanales, cuyas artes de navegación y pesca se han adaptado a ambos contextos acuosos. En un momento de transición avanzada hacia la fibra de vidrio, la presente investigación se propone localizar y analizar las tipologías construidas en madera que han sido o son empleadas por los pescadores tasajeros, definir su morfología y prestaciones en las dos aguas; así como evaluar la funcionalidad y el valor simbólico de la canoa en el seno de una comunidad sumida precaria realidad socioeconómica.
The Early and Middle Neolithic (3500–2300 [Before Current Era] BCE) Pitted Ware Culture (PWC) was a critical component of the historical trajectory of Scandinavia’s maritime history. The hunter-gatherer societies of the PWC were highly adapted to maritime environments, and they fished, hunted, travelled, and traded across great distances over water. Exactly what boat types they used, however, is still an open question. Understanding the maritime technologies used by the PWC is a critical research area as they had an important impact on subsequent maritime adaptations in Scandinavian prehistory. Unfortunately, finding intact boats from Neolithic contexts is extremely difficult. Here, we present indirect evidence for the use of skin boats by PWC people as a first step towards building a dialog on the types of boats that would have been used during this period. We argue that multiple lines of evidence suggest that skin boats were widely used for every-day activities and long-distance voyages by PWC peoples and will discuss the implications of possible complex boat use by Neolithic peoples for our understanding of early Scandinavian maritime societies.
This article critically reviews four decades of development of maritime and underwater archaeology in India (MUAI). Established in 1981, the first Marine Archaeology Centre at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research—National Institute of Oceanography in Goa, India, has conducted a series of maritime and underwater investigations. The country has also attracted international collaborations mainly focused on maritime ethnographic studies. As such, the discipline has seen steady growth, but its progress unfortunately remains slow and is struggling to keep pace with the developments happening within the discipline globally. A significant setback was in 2015 when the Underwater Archaeology Wing (UAW) of the Archaeological Survey of India was defunct. Furthermore, India is not a signatory to the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. This raises the question—what does the future hold for the MUAI? The government’s plan to establish the country’s first National Maritime Museum to display maritime past and its intention to revive the UAW to boost research indicates some optimism towards the survival of the field. Nonetheless, there exists gaps in research approaches and methodologies adopted so far and problems and challenges faced by the discipline that are hindering its growth. Along with discussing the aforementioned issues, this paper concludes with prospects for the future of MUAI.
Como testigo mudo de la construcción naval de tradición indígena, las llamadas canoas enterizas o canoas monóxilas y el saber de sus carpinteros, se encuentran en un momento próximo a la desaparición y el olvido histórico. La presente investigación etnográfica con perspectiva náutica se ha centrado en la búsqueda, localización y registro de las últimas canoas de este tipo, en uso o en abandono, como evidencia material de la continuidad parcial de su tradición constructiva, en paralelo a la localización y registro del inmaterial saber artesanal de los últimos carpinteros oriundos de El Horno (Magdalena).
In this paper we address the biography of a set of copper nails recovered in 1998 from a Late Iron Age structure located at the archaeological site of Puig de Sa Morisca (Mallorca, Spain). The archaeometric and typological analyses conducted on these nails allowed us to relate them to nautical technology, as well as to approach the origin of the raw materials and the production processes involved in their manufacture. The biographical information obtained from these studies has been crucial to address the extensive mobility of these copper nails through the Western Mediterranean during the Iron Age, as well as to approach their fluid nature and association with different communities of practice, assemblages and appropriation phenomena.
The seas and oceans have traditionally been a source of inspiration in the search for truth, and has gone on to successfully negate the human worldview that associated it with various elements of mythos and superstition. The seas and oceans also have their own advantages in that they have strengthened the relationship between countries and helped form a united spirit, mutual understanding, unity, and generate wealth. It is an invaluable, irreplaceable, and unmodifiable treasure. In the traditional narratives of the Malay World, the close tie between "sea-folk" and seas such as the South China Sea, the Sulu Sea, the Sulawesi Sea, the Flores Sea, the Java Sea, the Banda Sea, and so on which are all found within in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean is undeniable. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that the changes and developments that exist in the Southeast Asian region today, i.e. from bearing the characteristics of traditional governments to becoming modern nations are anchored to the seas and oceans, and the role played by seafaring tribesmen who had the seas run in their blood. However, nowadays it seems that these services and sacrifices for thousands of years seem to have remained only in the annals of history and not been paid much heed to. The emergence of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) doctrine introduced by China in 2013 appears to have given new hope to the seas and oceans to be elevated once again and used as an agenda for development by various countries in the region. Hence, this paper aims to discuss several terms, concepts and scopes in marine discipline; the importance of marine history teaching in the region from a histiographical perspective; the extent of how far the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) doctrine has been given serious attention by Malaysia towards becoming a maritime state; the opportunities and obstacles challenges; and some prerequisites to be taken into account in making this mission and vision for Malaysia a reality.
Between 2013 and 2015, the Republic of Indonesia’s Directorate of Preservation of Cultural Heritage and Museums held a series of capacity-building workshops at Selayar Islands in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Maritime archaeologists and practitioners from various government and research institutions attended the training program, including foreign delegates from ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries. The program’s field school centred on the Bontosikuyu shipwreck site. This shipwreck is dated to the late 13th to early 14th century CE based on 14 C dating of organic remains and ceramics analysis. It is considered one of the earliest shipwreck sites around the South Sulawesi region and is significant for understanding further the maritime trade of the eastern Indonesia area.
Three scale models of a one-hole stone anchor found at the Uluburun shipwreck site were tested in the sea, with their dragging force history being monitored and recorded. It was found that on a sandy seabed the measured holding power of an anchor is about 37 % of its dry weight, and about 49 % of its dry weight on a rocky seabed. The results were applied to the Ma'agan Mikhael II replica ship, and the forces acting on the ship, in different sea conditions, were compared to the holding power of the anchor. Wind velocity of 31.1 knots (16 m/s) and a current velocity of 2.9 knots (1.5 m/s), were chosen as representing extreme sea conditions. The forces acting on an anchored Ma'agan Mikhael II ship under these conditions were calculated and extrapolated for ships of different dimensions, but with the same structure and proportions as the Ma'agan Mikhael II using the replica scaling relations. These were compared to the holding power of the anchor, and the results can create a model that estimates the maximum size of the ship (as represented by its cargo capacity) by the mass (weight) of the anchor. This model estimates the size of a ship using a single one-hole stone anchor.
While International Relations scholars have recently excavated a number of systems previously unstudied by the discipline, few have discussed the emergence of fully-fledged systems in prehistory. Fully-fledged system have continuous multilinear (between more than two units at the time) and multidimensional (more than one institution in evidence) interaction at its core. Drawing mainly on extant archaeological research, we examine the European Bronze Age. We find that Indo-European in-migrating herders during the third millennium BCE established patron-led polities based on the steppe practices of the clients’ oath to his patron and the patron’s feast. A third practice, the guest/host relationships between patrons, anchored Europe’s first regional inter-polity systems. We also find that, due to an increase in interaction capacity caused by better boat building, horse-transport and the emergence of new technologies that made possible warfare at a distance, there systems were harbingers of a European-wide system of what we call Central Site Polities. We conclude that European inter-polity systems hail from the Bronze Age and suggest that the practices on which these systems rested are still, mutatis mutanda, with us. Further work on possible genealogical ties between the Central Site System and subsequent European systems awaits.
The antiquity of human dispersal into Mediterranean islands and ensuing coastal adaptation have remained largely unexplored due to the prevailing assumption that the sea was a barrier to movement, and that islands were hostile environments to early hunter-gatherers (Cherry & Leppard 2018; Leppard et al. 2022). Using the latest archaeological data, hindcasted climate projections, and age-structured demographic models, we demonstrate clear evidence for early arrival (14,257 to 13,182 calendar years ago) to Cyprus, and predicted that large groups of people (~ 1,000 to 1,375) arrived in 2–3 main events occurring within < 100 years to ensure low extinction risk. These results indicate that the post-glacial settlement of Cyprus involved only a few large-scale, organised events requiring advanced watercraft technology. Our spatially debiased and Signor-Lipps-corrected estimates indicate rapid settlement of the island within < 200 years, and expansion to a median of 4,000–5,000 people (0.36–0.46 km− 2) in < 11 human generations (< 300 years). Our results do not support the hypothesis of inaccessible and inhospitable islands in the Mediterranean by pre-agropastoralists, agreeing with analogous conclusions for other parts of the world such as the Indo-Pacific (Bird et al. 2019; Bradshaw et al. 2019). Our results also highlight the need to revisit these questions in the Mediterranean and test their validity in light of new technologies, field methods, and data. By applying stochastic models based on both temporally and spatially explicit data for the first time to the Mediterranean region, we are able to place Cyprus and large islands in general as attractive and favourable destinations for palaeolithic peoples.
El río Magdalena ha sido la principal vía de comunicación entre el interior continental colombiano y las dinámicas marítimas del litoral caribe, desde el periodo prehispánico hasta al menos inicios del siglo XX. Su amplia cuenca es testigo de un extraordinario dinamismo náutico basado de manera predominante en la canoa monóxila. En consecuencia, el presente artículo expone los avances preliminares de una investigación sobre el terreno, planteada de modo transdisciplinar al combinar miradas y métodos de etnohistoria, etnografía y arqueología náutica, cuyos objetivos estuvieron relacionados con el análisis de esa navegación fluvial que conectó territorios, mercancías, personas e ideas; la evaluación de posibles continuidades conceptuales y constructivas en las embarcaciones aún presentes en el río, y el registro del saber artesanal de las comunidades que aún hoy navegan sus aguas y pueblan sus riberas.
The study of windward sailing in antiquity is subject to discord, misunderstandings and misinterpretations. This paper attempts to broaden the understanding of windward sailing by revisiting the theoretical basis of windward sailing, performing a critical review of previous works, reconstructing historic passages with new methods to re-evaluate them being considered as unfavourable wind passages, and considering the ancient mariner’s limits of windward sailing. It is suggested that ancient ships had less windward capability than commonly perceived, and that the limits of the ancient mariners were more restrictive than ships’ technological windward capabilities, highlighting the necessity to consider practical windward capabilities.
Fascioliasis is a plant- and waterborne zoonotic parasitic disease caused by two trematode species: (i) Fasciola hepatica in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania and (ii) F. gigantica, which is restricted to Africa and Asia. Fasciolid liver flukes infect mainly herbivores as ruminants, equids, and camelids but also omnivore mammals as humans and swine and are transmitted by freshwater Lymnaeidae snail vectors. Two phases may be distinguished in fasciolid evolution. The long predomestication period includes the F. gigantica origin in east-southern Africa around the mid-Miocene, the F. hepatica origin in the Near-Middle East of Asia around the latest Miocene to Early Pliocene, and their subsequent local spread. The short postdomestication period includes the worldwide spread by human-guided movements of animals in the last 12,000 years and the more recent transoceanic anthropogenic introductions of F. hepatica into the Americas and Oceania and of F. gigantica into several large islands of the Pacific with ships transporting livestock in the last 500 years. The routes and chronology of the spreading waves followed by both fasciolids into the five continents are redefined on the basis of recently generated knowledge of human-guided movements of domesticated hosts. No local, zonal, or regional situation showing disagreement with historical records was found, although in a few world zones the available knowledge is still insufficient. The anthropogenically accelerated evolution of fasciolids allows us to call them "peridomestic endoparasites." The multidisciplinary implications for crucial aspects of the disease should therefore lead the present baseline update to be taken into account in future research studies.
Since the late first millennium CE, Maritime Southeast Asia has been an inter-connected zone, with its societies and states maintaining economic and diplomatic relations with both China and Japan on the east, and the Indian Sub-Continent and Middle East on the west. This global connectedness was facilitated by merchant and shipping networks that originated from within and outside Southeast Asia, resulting in a trans-regional economy developing by the early second millennium CE. Sojourning populations began to appear in Maritime Southeast Asia, culminating in records of Chinese and Indian settlers in such places as Sumatra, Malay Peninsula and the Gulf of Siam by the mid-first millennium CE. At the same time, information of products that were harvested in Southeast Asia began to be appropriated by pockets of society in China, the India and the Middle East, resulting in the production of new knowledge and usages for these products in these markets.
Equating maritime anthropology to the ethnography of fishing communities has driven researchers to neglect certain subjects (and objects) such as traditional shipbuilding communities. It has also limited the array of sources of information. Few anthropological studies have focused on traditional boat building, while these practices are heading toward extinction, given the wide distribution, increasing reliability, and decreasing prices of synthetic materials for ship and boat construction. While fiberglass boats are replacing wooden vessels, many artisan shipbuilding traditions around the world have managed to survive, but most of them have remained in the shadows. This paper provides a seminal state of the art and points out sources of information to solve questions on traditional shipbuilding. It attempts to propose a methodology based in a set of questions that anthropologists should ask when recording traditional shipbuilding practices. We argue that the information gathered by following the set of questions is valuable for its own sake in order to maintain vanishing maritime traditions, but the surviving ethnographical record is also priceless as it is the only way to fill gaps in the archaeological and historical record. Finally, it contains a short reflection on the difficulties of building a typology of traditionally built vessels.
Volume I of The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean provides a wide-ranging survey of Pacific history to 1800. It focuses on varied concepts of the Pacific environment and its impact on human history, as well as tracing the early exploration and colonization of the Pacific, the evolution of Indigenous maritime cultures after colonization, and the disruptive arrival of Europeans. Bringing together a diversity of subjects and viewpoints, this volume introduces a broad variety of topics, engaging fully with emerging environmental and political conflicts over Pacific Ocean spaces. These essays emphasize the impact of the deep history of interactions on and across the Pacific to the present day.
The rise of water transport technology enabled early modern humans to expand their habitable territory to insular environments. However, apart from intensive discussion for Wallacea, developmental process and regional variation of Palaeolithic seafaring remain unclear. To contribute this issue, the author presents a synthetic model for Palaeolithic seafaring in another region of the western Pacific, the Ryukyu Islands (Ryukyus). Here, some islands were more than 100 km away and invisible beyond the horizon, and one of the world’s strongest ocean currents intervened the seaways. Despite these challenging situations, Palaeolithic sites appeared throughout much of the 1,200 km chain of the islands ~35,000–30,000 years ago. By integrating currently available information from archaeology, skeletal morphology, genetics, palaeogeography, oceanography and our own experimental voyage project, the author discusses probable migration routes, possible watercrafts, preparation and strategy needed for successful maritime migrations, and other issues relevant to deeper understanding of the origins and development of human maritime activities.
This book explores the deep roots of modern democracy, focusing on geography and long-term patterns of global diffusion. Its geographic argument centers on access to the sea, afforded by natural harbors which enhance the mobility of people, goods, capital, and ideas. The extraordinary connectivity of harbor regions thereby affected economic development, the structure of the military, statebuilding, and openness to the world – and, through these pathways, the development of representative democracy. The authors' second argument focuses on the global diffusion of representative democracy. Beginning around 1500, Europeans started to populate distant places abroad. Where Europeans were numerous they established some form of representative democracy, often with restrictions limiting suffrage to those of European heritage. Where they were in the minority, Europeans were more reticent about popular rule and often actively resisted democratization. Where Europeans were entirely absent, the concept of representative democracy was unfamiliar and its practice undeveloped.
This article describes the techniques used in Southeast Asian boats and ships to assemble planks and frames as observed over the past two millennia in archaeological and ethnographical contexts. Planks were first lashed with vegetal fibre and dowelled, with frames also lashed to planks. The sewing of the planks later gave way to treenails only, with frames still lashed to planks. In large ships, the lashings of planks to frames were finally also replaced by treenails, as could still be observed in Indonesia in the late 20th century.
p>The earliest evidence for the sail in the Mediterranean dates to c. 3100 BC and indicates that vessels were rigged with a-square-sail. From this point until the late-antique period the square- sail remained the principal sailing rig of the Mediterranean. A new form of sailing rig, the lateen, began to be utilised amongst Mediterranean mariners from at least the 2nd century AD and became widespread from the 5th century AD. The lateen sailing rig proved so popular that the square-sail was eventually abandoned in the Mediterranean during the medieval period. The rapid pace of technological change during the late-antique period followed a long period of relative technological stability and has traditionally been explained via a logical progression of technology. This has imposed a 'need' to improve the windward performance of ancient sailing vessels upon their users. Such a progression has also been seen as providing the mechanism, viewed through changes to geometric sail shape, for the unilinear evolution of the modern, western sailing rig. This explanation of maritime technological change is now outdated and unsustainable, both in terms of modern theories of technological change and the available evidence on the specific subject of the lateen sail. Despite this, it is still widely accepted within maritime studies of the ancient world. By investigating the fine detail of all of the constituent parts of a sailing rig, rather than simply the sail shape, it is possible to view sailing rigs as a series of related, component parts. Acknowledgement of the importance of the technical practice used to operate a sailing rig underlines the importance of the ancient mariner in determining the nature of maritime technology. By relating a detailed understanding of maritime technology to the broader context of the ancient world, this study sets out to challenge, dismantle and replace outdated theories regarding the introduction and adoption of the lateen sail in the ancient Mediterranean.</p
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