Archive Results For: Prehistory
A Cargo of Slaves? Demosthenes 34.10
Existing studies of the ancient Greek slave trade lack detailed evidence for a key link in the supply chain. The geographical origins of non-Greek slaves are well known, as are the various destinations to which they were trafficked; as yet, however, little is known about their transport by sea. This article shows that a key […] Read More
Filed under: Prehistory | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Archaeology
Early Seafaring in Northwest Europe: Could Planked Vessels have Played a Significant Part?
Discusses the capabilities and limitations of the three main types of sea-going craft built during the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Ages, i.e. logboats, hide boats and wooden planked boats. The remains of wooden planked boats excavated at Ferriby on the River Humber, over a period from 1937, and sailing a half-scale reconstruction of one on […] Read More
Filed under: Prehistory | North Sea
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration | Shipbuilding & Design
The West Indian Sailing Canoe
Spritsail rigged carvel-built open boats called yoles raced for sport in Martinique preserve a design perhaps thousands of years old, a direct copy – built from frames and planks –of the indigenous island dugout canoes of the Carib Indians. Carib tradition is that such spritsail rigged dugouts were part of their pre-Columbian culture. Their speed […] Read More
Filed under: Prehistory | Other (Twentieth C) | Caribbean
Subjects include: Leisure & Small Craft
What Were Sails Made Of?
From the study of ancient wrecks, using modern archaeological techniques including carbon14 dating, a great deal is now known about hulls and ship’s carpentry. However, apart from pictures, very little is known in detail about sails, since practically nothing has been preserved. Forms of propulsion for boats gradually evolved from manpower to wind assisted, as […] Read More
Filed under: Prehistory | Antiquity | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Archaeology | Shipbuilding & Design
Prehistoric Water Transport in NW Europe
This paper summarises the forms of water transport in North West Europe preceding the 1st century AD. Whilst most scholars studying this period rely mostly on archaeological findings in the form of preserved navigational instruments, anchors, harbours and boats, the comparative lack of such remains in North-West Europe necessitates McGrail’s utilisation of iconographic, documentary and […] Read More
Filed under: Prehistory | Internal Waterways
Subjects include: Archaeology | Shipbuilding & Design
The Thera Ships as Sailing Vessels
The excavations on the Greek island of Thera (Santorini) brought to light the remnants of the first graphically illustrated Minoan ships. The Akrotiri Bronze Age Thera Ship Fresco has been a highly controversial issue and has also been thoroughly examined in the past. The aim of this paper is to investigate the fresco’s contemporaneity, identify […] Read More
Filed under: Prehistory | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Archaeology | Art & Music | Miscellaneous
Unusual Late Bronze Age Ship Representations from Tel Akko
The three ships engraved on a Bronze Age altar stone excavated in Tel Akko, northern Israel in 1980 are of the ‘round ship’ class with masts, sails, shrouds, rudders and oars. They show ‘stern fans’ common in antiquity and rare ‘stem fans’. Similar high inward inclined stem posts or fans and higher stern posts are […] Read More
Filed under: Prehistory | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration | Shipbuilding & Design
A Further Note on the Thera Ships
This paper relates to further thoughts on the use of the ship’s stern platform depicted in the Thera fresco from c1500 BC. It speculates on the use of the ‘stern appendage’ and the possibility that it was part of the design – perhaps to alleviate a fore and aft rocking, or porpoising motion, that may […] Read More
Filed under: Prehistory | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Archaeology | Shipbuilding & Design
The Thera Ships – a Re-Analysis
The design and use of a ship’s stern platform, depicted in the c1500 BC Thera fresco, is analysed with various speculations and interpretations being presented. The discussion also embraces the sailing capabilities of the ship, both to windward and upwind and the number of crew involved. Although based on speculation and assumption this paper attempts […] Read More
Filed under: Prehistory | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Archaeology | Shipbuilding & Design
The Search for Dilmun
The article postulates that there are sufficient geographic clues in the Epic of Gilgamesh to show that the story of Gilgamesh’s final journey is based on real travel tradition. The author believes that the paradise of Dilmun lies at the mouth of the River Indus; that the outward journey is by land along the north […] Read More
Filed under: Prehistory | Indian Ocean
Subjects include: Archaeology | Biography