Boats of the world: from the Stone Age to Medieval times 9780198144687, 9780199271863

Table of contents :
Frontmatter
List of Illustrations (page xvi)
List of Tables (page xxi)
Abbreviations (page xxii)
Conventions used in the text (page xxiii)
1. SOURCES AND THEMES (page 1)
2. EGYPT (page 14)
3. ARABIA (page 55)
4. THE MEDITERRANEAN (page 88)
5. ATLANTIC EUROPE (page 166)
6. INDIA (page 249)
7. GREATER AUSTRALIA (page 279)
8. SOUTH-EAST ASIA (page 289)
9. OCEANIA (page 311)
10. CHINA (page 346)
11. THE AMERICAS (page 394)
12. EARLY WATER TRANSPORT (page 431)
Bibliography (page 441)
Glossary (page 466)
Index (page 471)

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BOATS OF THE WORLD

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BOATS OF THE WORLD FROM THE STONE AGE TO MEDIEVAL TIMES

Sean McGrail

OXFORD

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Preface to the paperback edition

I have taken the opportunity afforded by this paperback edition to correct misprints in the text, captions, and references. The index has been expanded to include many more entries, and further place names have been added to some of the maps. The glossary definitions of ‘frame-first’ and ‘plank-first’ have been revised, and the term ‘framing first’ introduced. The pagination remains as in the original edition. In the two years since this book was first published, discoveries and theoretical studies have thrown further light on several of the topics discussed in Boats of the World. Most of this research is relevant to specific themes in this book and may be grouped under eight headings, as done below. Other research is more relevant to one of the regional chapters. Cheryl Ward (2000) has published a detailed discussion of excavated Egyptian ships and boats from the early third millennium Bc to the midfirst millennium Bc, including a reappraisal of the Dahshur boats’ plank fastenings (2.8.3.2). The proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Ship Construction in Antiquity, held at Lamia in 1996 (Tzalas, 2001), contain much of relevance to Chapter 4 on the Mediterranean, whilst the proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology, held at Venice in 2000 (Beltrame, 2003), deal with Atlantic Europe (Chapter 5) as well as the Mediterranean.

MARITIME ARCHAEOLOGY (1.1; 12.3)

Basil Greenhill (2002) has argued that the study of maritime history should no longer remain a separate specialization, but should be integrated into the main discipline. The archaeological discipline would similarly benefit if it took maritime matters to its heart, instead of looking on this aspect of the past as a wayward foster-child. Such a shift would mean that all archaeologists would investigate the maritime, riverine, or lacustrine implications of their studies and their fieldwork. Two books by Barry Cunliffe, on the Atlantic and its people (2001a) and on Pytheas the Greek explorer (2001b), are fine examples of this integrated research: ships, seafaring, and the maritime environment are interwoven with evidence from mainstream archaeology and history.

ETHNOGRAPHY (1.2.4)

Three recent books contain boat ethnographic material useful to the archaeologist when establishing a base line from which to work backwards in time through historical sources to the archaeology of a particular region, or, as comparative evidence,

vi PREFACE when interpreting excavated vessels. The Dictionary of the World’s Watercraft (2001),

published by the Mariners’ Museum of Newport News, contains succinct descriptions of innumerable boat types. In Boats of Bengal, Hardgrave (2001) has reproduced a number of late-eighteenth-century illustrations by Balthazar Solvyns: these were previously only available in the rare copies of Solvyns’s original publications (6.7.4). Boats of South Asia (McGrail, 2003) is based on late-twentieth-century fieldwork on selected boat types of the eastern coast of South Asia, from Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu to Bangladesh. In addition to its ethnographic value, this material is proving useful in the interpretation of north-west European evidence for sewn-plank boats (5.4) and hide boats (5.3.3); the assessment of medieval iconographic and documentary evidence for European vessels with reverse-clinker planking and hulc planking runs (5.8.3); and in the study of the medieval shift in Atlantic Europe from plank-first to a framing-first sequence of building (5.9).

BUILDING TRADITIONS (1.4.2)

Several works have been published which illuminate our perceptions of European

ship- and boatbuilding traditions. ,

The Nordic tradition (5.8.1). Ole Crumlin-Pedersen (2002) has published the first of three projected volumes on the medieval wrecks from Skuldelev in Roskilde Fjord, Denmark. This is the definitive work on the environmental and historical contexts of these five ships, and their excavation, conservation, and display. When all three volumes have been studied, the definition of the Nordic tradition will need to be reconsidered, especially its ‘classic’ phase in the eleventh to twelfth centuries aD. The Cog tradition (5.8.2). In responding to Weski (1999), Crumlin-Pedersen (2000) has contributed to the debate concerning the use of the documented type name ‘cog’ to describe a tradition which has been identified mainly from excavated evidence. In a paper on the earliest cog so far known in Swedish waters, Adams and Ronnby (2002) list characteristics which they consider define the cog tradition. Iberian-Atlantic tradition (5.9.4). This is the name given to a group of ocean-going ships excavated in the Atlantic coastal waters of America and Europe, and dated to the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries AD: they are sometimes referred to as ‘ships of the explorers’. In the proceedings of a 1998 Lisbon conference (Alves, 2001) there are papers dealing with documentary and excavated evidence for vessels of this tradition, and comparative evidence from twentieth-century Portugal and Tamil Nadu. Alves and colleagues (2001) have also published a preliminary report on a mid-fifteenth-century wreck found in a coastal lagoon area at Ria de Aveiro in north-central Portugal. The book and the report are leading towards a clearer definition of this tradition.

European logboats (5.3.1). Although logboats do not constitute a tradition (indeed, worldwide, there are probably many individual logboat traditions yet to be recognized), they have well-defined characteristics which differentiate them from other wooden craft. Béat Arnold (2002) has compiled a database of 2,400 logboats culled from 700 publications: an invaluable aid for further research.

Examination of the wood structure of the eleventh-century ab Utrecht boat’s foundation plank has shown that it is an expanded oak log (van de Moortel, 2000). A

PREFACE Vii

Swiss full-scale oak reconstruction of one of the Slusegard burial boats of aD 80-250 (5.3.1.6.1) has been successfully expanded, as Crumlin-Pedersen (199 1a; 2001) had suggested was possible. In both cases the full research publication is awaited.

Rosemary Niblett (2001) has interpreted an early-fourth-millennium Bc human burial near St. Albans, Hertfordshire, as the charred remains of a logboat. The remains were generally ‘boat-shaped’, but whether there were characteristic ends is not clear. This may have have been a log-coffin or a logboat reused as a coffin.

SHIPWRECKS AND TRADING VOYAGES

Seagoing vessels are not necessarily wrecked in their home waters, and it can be difficult to determine not only their origin, but also the route of their final voyage (1.4.2.1). An early-fifteenth-century ship wrecked off Bakau in Indonesian waters (Flecker, 2001) could have been from any one of the countries known to have been involved in trade between the Persian Gulf and China. Flecker has argued, from consideration of her characteristics, that she was most likely of the southeast Asian tradition (8.3.7.3) rather than Chinese (10.4.2). Animportant feature of this ship is that all her plank scarves were outboard of her bulkheads, raising the possibility that she was built bulkhead-first (a form of framing-first) rather than plank-first (10.7.2; 10.7.5). Flecker (2000) has also published details of a ninth-century sewn-plank ship wrecked in Indonesian waters off Belitung. Apart from a type of small fishing boat used recently off Hainan island, there is little evidence for sewn-plank boats in China (10.2.10.3). On the other hand, sewn-plank vessels are known to have been used for some centuries in south-east Asian inshore waters (8.3.7.1), and at sea from the harbours and beaches of Arabia (3.6) and India (6.7.3). The evidence does not allow Fletcher to decide to which of these traditions the Belitung ship belonged. In both these papers there is discussion of trade routes linking China, southeast Asia, India, and Arabia (3.8.1; 6.3; 6.4; 8.2.1; 8.2.3; 10.1.1; 10.10.3). In two recent books Himanshu Ray (1999; 2003) has added to our understanding of the archaeological and documentary background to these voyages, and a paper by Bellina (2003) deals with trade connections between India and south-east Asia in the first millennium Bc.

EARLY EVIDENCE FOR OVERSEAS VOYAGES

Indonesian waters. Excavations on the island of Flores in the Indonesian archipelago have revealed stone artifacts of Lower Pleistocene age (Bednarik, 2003). At that time of very low sea levels, the present-day island of Bali was the easternmost extension of the Asian mainland, whilst Sumbawa, Lombok, and Flores were islands within the Wallacean archipelago which then lay between the Asian and Australian continents (7.1). The Middle Palaeolithic archaic hominids of

Vili PREFACE | 750,000 BC who made those artifacts would have had to cross two channels 20 to 30 km (10 to 18 nautical miles) wide to get to Flores. Such sea crossings may have

, been undertaken by float-assisted swimmers or by some form of water transport: data on currents, tidal flows, and visibility sectors at that time have not yet been published. It has been realized for some time that early hominids were probably able to cross rivers and lakes, but the possibility now arises that sea crossings were also within their competence. The Flores findings are still the subject of debate. If the evidence is confirmed, the implied sea crossings will be the earliest known, much earlier than the

voyages involved in the settlement of Greater Australia by modern humans in c.50,000 BC (7.2).

Barker (2002) has recently shown that the Niah caves in Sarawak, Borneo (8.3.4) were first occupied c.43,000 Bc. At that time Borneo was part of the Asian mainland, thus this settlement would not have involved a sea voyage. However, it does show that modern humans were on the south-eastern margin of Asia around the time of

the seaborne migration across Wallacia towards New Guinea and Australia (7.2: 7.4.1).

Strait of Gibraltar. Similarities between the Lower Palaeolithic stone tools of Spain-France and those of north-west Africa led to the hypothesis that the Strait of Gibraltar may have been crossed around one million years ago (4.4.1). During the Palaeolithic, lower sea levels would have reduced the breadth of the strait to 7-11 km (4-6 nautical miles), and islands could have been used as stepping stones. There have been no recent publications for or against such an early crossing; however, a five-year research programme focused on Middle and Upper Palaeolithic remains on both sides of the strait has recently begun (Barton et al., 2001). Bering Strait. Contentious matters that had long been debated in numerous papers about the earliest settlement of the Americas (11.1) were further discussed at a San Francisco symposium in 1999. In the proceedings of that conference (Jablonski, 2002) sixteen authors present the latest environmental, biological, DNA, and linguistic evidence on these issues. Although some problems were clarified, no consensus was reached on the date of the earliest migration from Siberia to Alaska: without a date it is impossible to suggest what sort of water transport would have been feasible from the environmental and the technological viewpoints.

EARLIEST REMAINS OF WATER TRANSPORT

Recent Arabian finds of fragments of solidified bitumen, with impressions of ropes, reeds, and (rarely) planking, have been interpreted as the remains of the waterproof_ ing outer layer of bundle boats (3.3.2; 3.4.4) and sewn-plank boats (3.6). These finds constitute the only excavated evidence for water transport in the Arabian region. The earliest finds come from the head of the Persian Gulf at Subiya in Kuwait and are

| dated to the sixth millennium Bc. Fragments from a Turkish site at Hacinebi in the upper Euphrates valley are from c.3800 Bc. Those from Ra’s al-Jinz, Oman, south of Ra’s al Hadd, the easternmost point of Arabia, are from 2500-2200 Bc. Some of the Kuwait and Oman fragments have barnacles attached on their smooth, outer surfaces, indicating that they had been in salt water (Schwartz, 2002; Carter, 2002-3).

PREFACE ix

The Kuwait and Turkish fragments were excavated only recently, and details are not yet available. The Oman finds, on the other hand, were first excavated some 15 years ago, and research has shown that these fragments are generally 10-40 mm thick, and that three types of impression are visible (Cleuziou and Tozi, 2000; Vosmer, 2000):

— bound reed bundles of diameter 40-300 mm; — woven reed mats; —— sewn planking with toolmarks.

Recent bundle boats were waterproofed with bitumen layers some 10-30 mm thick (Forbes, 1964: 20; Thesiger, 1978: 126). Bitumen layers up to 40 mm thick (as on the Oman fragments) would thus not be out of place on a seagoing vessel. However, at Al’ Ubaid in early Mesopotamia, reed mats coated with various

thicknesses of bitumen were used for house walls (Forbes, 1964: 60, 71). Furthermore, at Ur, liquid mastic bitumen was poured into basketware moulds to form standard cakes which retained the marks of the basket (Forbes, 1964: 20). In the light of this, it would be prudent to consider whether those bitumen fragments without barnacles, and any that are thicker than, say, 40 mm, might be the remains of buildings or from a phase in the manufacture of bitumen. Should further research confirm that at least some of the fragments from Kuwait and Turkey are from bundle boats, they would be older than the oldest known plank boats—those from Egypt dated to the early third millennium Bc

(2.6.1)—but younger than the earliest logboats: those from Pesse in the Netherlands and Noyen-sur-Seine, France of the eighth millennium Bc (5.3.1.2).

Research on those Oman fragments that have impressions of planking, ropes, and wooden plugs is not yet finished. If it is confirmed that they are the remains of sewn-plank boats, as seems likely, they would constitute the second earliest evidence for this ubiquitous type of craft, since they are younger than Egyptian vessels of the early third millennium Bc (2.6; 2.7.1), but are some centuries older than the Bronze Age sewn-plank boats from Ferriby in the Humber estuary (5.4.2.1). These three boats have recently been re-dated by radiocarbon to c.1780 Bc (Ferriby boat 1), 1830 Bc (boat 2) and 1905 Bc (boat 3) (Wright et al., 2001).

EARLY PILOTAGE AND NAVIGATION

Two wooden boat models from the tomb of the Egyptian Meketra (Landstrém, 1970: 79; Vinson, 1994: 31) have one member of their crew, in the bows, holding

a sounding lead and line. Meketra was the Chancellor of Nebhepetra Mentuhotep 2 and thus these models date from before 2000 Bc, and are the earliest evidence for this pilotage aid (2.7.6; 4.4.6). From a re-examination of the evidence for Greek and Roman surveying instru-

ments Lewis (2001) has been able to reconstruct the Greek angle-measuring device known as a dioptra. Its vertical and horizontal uses on land in the classical world are documented but there is, as yet, no evidence that Greek mariners used it at sea, where it could have been invaluable for taking star heights. However,

xX PREFACE Lewis believes that the Arab kamal (3.8.2.2.3) and the European astrolabe (5.10) were

descendants, as it were, of this dioptra. , Grainge (2002) has discussed in some detail the problems the Romans faced during their invasion of Britain in AD 43, including the navigational and seafaring skills needed in such a channel crossing.

EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY (1.3)

There are two types of boat archaeological experiment: the representative and the specific. In a representative experiment the reconstruction to be built and tested is based mainly on documentary and iconographic evidence, and is intended to be a typical example of an identified class of vessel. A ‘specific’ experiment, on the other hand, is based primarily on excavated evidence for one particular vessel. Doubts expressed about the authenticity of reconstructions and the reliability and validity of experiments could be countered if experimenters were to explain their experimental philosophy and methodology, and clearly stated their chain of argument from evidence to ‘floating hypothesis’. In the ‘specific’ type of experiment aimed at establishing the performance of an ancient vessel, this chain is represented by four experimental phases (McGrail, 2004): A. Assess the excavated evidence and the site archive to determine precisely what was excavated. B. Encapsulate the results of (A) in a small-scale ‘as-found/torso’ model.

, C. Use this model as a basis for a rigorously argued reconstruction. Disseminate (A),

(B), and (C) for criticism. ,

D. Modify the reconstruction as necessary, and use as the basis for a full-scale model.

When two or more competing reconstructions have been proposed, as is the case with the Bronze Age sewn-plank boats Ferriby 1 (5.4.2.1) and the Brigg ‘raft’ (5.4.2.2),

the alternatives may be evaluated using this four-phase procedure, concentrating especially on phase (A). A recent reassessment of the Hjortspring Iron Age sewnplank boat (5.4.6) has concluded that the reconstruction devised in the mid-1930s was correct (Crumlin-Pedersen and Trakadas, 2003). It does not appear, however, that the surviving elements of this boat were modelled and then reassembled as a boat shape. In other words, although the phase (A) reassessment was done, a phase (B) model

was not built as an independent check.

REFERENCES , These references are additional to those in the main Bibliography. ADAMS, J., and RONNBY, J. (2002). ‘Kuggmaren 1: the first cog in the Stockholm archipelago, Sweden’. IJNA 31: 172-81. AtvEs, F. (ed.) (2001). Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Archaeology of Medieval

Arqueologia. ,

and Modern Ships of the Iberian-Atlantic Tradition. Lisbon: Instituto Portugués de

—— et al. (2001). ‘Ria de Aveiro: a shipwreck from Portugal dating to the mid-15th century’. IJNA 30: 30-6.

PREFACE Xi ANON (2001). Dictionary of the World’s Watercraft. Mariners’ Museum: Newport News,

and London: Chatham Publishing. | ARNOLD, B. (2002). ‘Logboats from Europe and the CD-ROM’. IJNA 31: 129-32. BARKER, G. (2002). ‘Prehistoric foragers and farmers in south-east Asia’. PPS 68: 147-64. BARTON, R. N. E., Bouzouccegr, A., and STRINGER, C. B. (2001). ‘Bridging the gap: new

fieldwork in northern Morocco’. Antiquity, 75: 489-90. BEDNARIK, R. G. (2003). “Seafaring in the Pleistocene’. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 13.1: 41-66.

BELLINA, B. (2003). “Beads, social change and interaction between India and south-east Asia’. Antiquity, 77: 285-97. BELTRAME, C. (ed.) (2003). Proceedings of the International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology, 9. Oxford: Oxbow.

CARTER, R. (2002-3). Neolithic origins of seafaring in the Arabian Gulf. Archaeology International (U.C.L.): 44-47. CLEUZIOU, S., and Tozi, M. (2000). “Ra’s al Jinz and the prehistoric coastal culture of the Ja’alan’. Journal of Oman Studies, 11: 19-73. CRUMLIN-PEDERSEN, O. (2001). ‘Slusegard boat recreated’. Newsletter from Roskilde, 16: 31-4. —— (2002). Skuldelev Ships 1. Roskilde: Viking Ship Museum. —— and TRakapas, A. (eds.) (2003). Hjortspring: A Pre-Roman Iron Age Warship in Context. Roskilde: Viking Ship Museum. CUNLIFFE, B. (2001b). Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek. London: Allen Lane Penguin Press. FLECKER, M. (2000). ‘Ninth century Arab or Indian shipwreck in Indonesian waters’. IJNA 29: 199-217. ——- (2001). ‘Bakau wreck’. IJNA 30: 221-30. GRAINGE, G. (2002). Roman Channel Crossing in aD 43. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports 332. GREENHILL, B. (2002). ‘After 60 years: thoughts on history and the sea’. Maritime Life and Traditions, 15: 81-2. HARDGRAVE, R. L. (2001). Boats of Bengal. New Delhi: Manohar.

JABLONSKI, N. G. (ed.) (2002). First Americans. San Francisco: Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences 27. Lewis, M. J. T. (2001). Surveying Instruments of Greece and Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. McGRAILL, S. (2004). ‘North-west European seagoing boats before aD 400, in P. Clark (ed.), Proceedings of the Dover Conference in 2002. Dover Museum.

NIBLETT, R. (2001). ‘Neolithic dugout from a multi-period site near St. Albans’. IJNA 30: 155-95. Ray, H. P. (ed.) (1999). Archaeology of Seafaring. Delhi: Pragati.

—— (2003). Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. SCHWARTZ, M. (2002). ‘Early evidence of reed boats from south-east Anatolia’. Antiquity, 76: 617-18.

TZALAS, H. (ed.) (2001). Tropis 6. Athens: Hellenic Institute for the Preservation of Nautical Tradition. VAN DE MoorTEL, A. (2000). ‘Utrecht ship’. Newsletter from Roskilde, 14: 36-9. VosMER, T. (2000). ‘Ships in the ancient Arabian Sea’. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 30: 235-42.

Warp, C. A. (2000). Sacred and Secular: Ancient Egyptian Ships and Boats. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. WESKI, T. (1999). ‘Ijsselmeer type: some thoughts on Hanseatic cogs’. IJNA 28: 360-79. WRIGHT, E. V., et al. (2001). ‘New AMS radiocarbon dates for the North Ferriby boats’. Antiquity, 75: 726-34.

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Contents

List of Illustrations xvi List of Tables xxi

Abbreviations xxit Conventions used in the text xxiii

1. SOURCES AND THEMES I 1.1 Maritime archaeology and boat archaeology I 1.2 Sources of evidence I 1.3 The reconstruction and interpretation of excavated vessels 5

1.4 Concepts behind some of the arguments in this study 7

2.2.1. EGYPT 14 The Delta 14

1.5 Presentation of the evidence 12

2.3. Seafaring 16

2.2 Egypt's natural resources 16 2.4 The pre-Pharaonic period (c.13,000-3100 BC) 17

2.5 Non-plank craft throughout Pharaonic times 20 2.6 Planked craft of the Early Dynastic Period (c.3100-2866 BC) 23 2.7 Planked boats and ships of the Old Kingdom (c.2686—2160 BC) 26

2.8 Planked vessels of the Middle Kingdom (c.2133-1786 Bc) 36 2.9 Planked vessels of the New Kingdom (c.1567—1085 BC) Al

2.10 The Late Dynastic Period (1085-332 BC) 47

2.11 Graeco-Roman times 48

3.3.1ARABIA 55 Overseas trade 55 3.2. Water transport before the third millennium Bc 56

3.3 The third millennium Bc 58

3.4 Water transport in the second and first millennia Bc 62

3.5 Propulsion and steering in early Mesopotamia 70 3.6 Sewn-plank boats of the first and second millennia ap vl 3.7 Harbours and trade routes in the first century ap 77

3.8 Seafaring 81

xiv CONTENTS

, 4. THE MEDITERRANEAN 88 , 4.1 Reconstructing past sea levels and climates 88 4.2 Environmental conditions 89 , 4.3 Overseas passages 95 4.4 Exploration and navigation 97 (before c.3800 BC) | 102 4.6 The Early Bronze Age (c.3800—2000 BC) 105 4.5 Water transport before the Bronze Age

4.7. The Middle Bronze Age (c.2000—1500 BC) III 4.8 The Late Bronze Age (c.1550—1100 BC) 122

4.9 The Early Iron Age (c.1100-550 BC) 125

4.10 The trireme of the seventh—fourth centuries Bc IAI

4.11 Shipbuilding before the third century Bc 145 4.12. The Hellenistic Age (fourth—first centuries Bc) 148 4.13. The Roman Age (mid-second century

sc—fourth century aD) 154

4.14 Propulsion, steering, and seafaring : 159 4.15 Early frame-first vessels 160 4.16 Design of medieval frame-first ships 164

,

5. ATLANTIC EUROPE | 166 5.1 The early environment 167 5.2 Early seafaring 170 5.3. Water transport before the Bronze Age 172

5.4 Bronze and Iron Age plank boats 184 5.5 Vessels built Mediterranean fashion 194

5.6 Romano-Celtic boats and ships 196 5.7. Boats and ships of the first millennium ap 207 5.8 Medieval vessels (eleventh—fourteenth centuries) 223

5.9 Late medieval ships 243 5.10 Atlantic seafaring , 247

6.6.2INDIA 249 The Iron Age , 252 6.1 The Neolithic and Bronze Ages 250

6.3. Graeco-Roman trade with India 255 , 6.4 Seafaring in the Bay of Bengal (first—-eighth centuries aD) 260

6.5 Medieval European contacts with India 261

6.6 Early Indian water transport 262 6.7 Planked boats and ships up to the twentieth century 269

6.8 Medieval and later navigational techniques 278

7. GREATER AUSTRALIA 279 , 7.1 The early environment 279

! 7.2 The settlement of Greater Australia 280

7.3 Water transport , 283 7.4 Early prehistoric water transport 2.87

CONTENTS XV

8. SOUTH-EAST ASIA 289

8.1 Early population movements 289

8.2 Early maritime contacts 291 8.3. Water transport 293

9.9.1OCEANIA 311 The Oceanic migration 314 9.2 Evidence for Oceanic water transport 317

9.3. Water transport 319 9.4 Early ocean-going boats 338

9.5 Navigation 339

10. CHINA 346

10.1 The environmental background 346

10.2 Early water transport 349 10.3. Early inland waterways 358

10.4 Seagoing vessels 360 10.5 Characteristics of the excavated ships 374 10.6 Documentary evidence 377

10.7. The Chinese shipbuilding tradition 379

10.8 Other plank-boat traditions 382 10.9 Boat and shipbuilding sites 384 10.10 China and the world overseas 385

10.11 Pilotage and navigation 392

11.u.1THE AMERICAS 394 The earliest settlement 396 11.2 Later settlements 397

11.3 European settlements in the

fifteenth—eighteenth centuries 398 11.4 Water transport 400 11.5 America’s earliest water transport 429

12. EARLY WATER TRANSPORT 431 12.1. The state of research 431 12.2 Inter-regional comparisons 433 - 12.3 Boat and ship archaeology 437

Bibliography AAI Glossary 466

Index 471

List of Illustrations ©

1.1 Maritime archaeology I 3.3. Cylinder seal from Tell Billa near Nineveh 57 1.2 Archaeological research 5 3.4 Twentieth-century reed bundle boat 60 1.3 Experimental boat and ship archaeology 6 3.5 Twentieth-century quffa model 60

1.4 Classification of water transport 8 3.6 Silver boat model from Ur 61

2.1 Map of Egypt 15 3.7. Seal excavated from Bahrain 61

2.2 Craft ona fourth-millennium sc bow] 17 3.8 Seal excavated from Bahrain 61 2.3. Boats ona fourth-millennium sc linenfragment 18 3.9 Seal excavated from Bahrain 61

2.4 Craft ona vase of ¢.3200 BC 18 3.10 Twentieth-century boat-shaped log raft 62 2.5 Naqada vase of c.3100 BC 19 3.11 Pot floats depicted on the Balawat gates 63 2.6 Ivory knife-handle from Gebel-el-Arak 19 3.12 Buoyed raft depicted in the palace of

2.7. Bundle rafts under construction 21 Sennacherib 63 2.8 Tightening bundle raft lashings 22 3.13 Twentieth-century float raft and two bundle

2.9 Cheops ship on display 24 boats at Baghdad 64 2.10 Sectional diagram of the Cheops ship | 26 3.14 Assyrian relief depicting bundle rafts 65 2.11 Interior of the Cheops ship 27 3.15 Possible hide boat depicted in Sennacherib’s

2.12 Boatbuilding scene from Ti’s tomb 28 palace 67 2.13. Hogging hawser depicted in a fifth-dynasty 3.16 Mesopotamian oars 69

tomb 29 3.17 Ship depicted in al-Harari’s Maqamat 74,

2.14 Ship depicted in Sahure’s burial temple 29 3.18 Map of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf region 78

2.15 Ship depicted in the tomb of Kaem’onkh 30 3.19 Severin’s sewn-plank boat 81 2.16 Paddling depicted in the funerary temple of 3.20 Method of using a kamal 85

Userkaf 31 4.1. Map of the Mediterranean region 90-91

: 2.17 Fifth-dynasty boat with a pole mast ae 4.2. Visibility from sea level in the Mediterranean 98

Seshemnefer 32 = | east Africa 35 4.6 Sixth-century sc Etruscan gems 103

2.18 Relief from the tomb of Ipi 3 4.3 Map of the Mediterranean showing sites 99 2.19 Ship with a bowline from the tomb of 4.4 Tower of the Winds, Athens 1or 2.20 Map of the Red Sea region and the coast of 45 Fourth-century ap Contorniate coin "3

2.21 Dahshur boat on display 37 4.7 Goldring from Mochlos, Crete 103

2.22 Plans of a Dahshur boat 38 4.8 Experimental bundle raft TO4 2.23 Boatbuilding with short planks 39 4.9 Lead model boat from Naxos, Greece 106

2.24 Hatshepsut’s ships in Punt Al 4.10 Boat model from Palaikastro, Greece 107 2.25 Cargo ship from the tomb of Huy 4B 4.11 Boat model from Mochlos, Crete 108 2.26 Barge loaded with two obelisks 44 4.12 Cyladic terracottas—‘frying pans’ 109 2.27 Battle between Egyptians and the Sea People 46 4.13 Stone engraving from Naxos, Greece IIo

3.1 Map of Mesopotamia 56 4.14 Potsherd from Orchomenos 10 3.2 Model from a grave at Eridu 57 4.15 Syrian cylinder seal from Tell el Daba 112

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Xvii

4.16 Ship ona Minoan seal of c.2000 BC 112, 5.10 Reconstruction model of the Hasholme

4.17 Remains of the Thera sailing ship depiction logboat 179 as excavated 113 5.11 Rock carvings at Evenhus, Norway 181

4.18 Thera sailing ship’s rigging reconstructed 113 5.12 Gold model boat from Broighter, Ireland 182

4.19 Thera ‘flagship’ restored 114 5.143 Drawing of a seventeenth-century currach 183 4.20 Thera south frieze as restored 116 5.14 Ferriby 1 on the Humber foreshore 185

4.21 Thera north frieze as restored 116 5.15 Plans of Ferriby 1 185

4.22, Uluburun wreck remains 124 5.16 Reconstruction drawing of Ferriby and

, 4.23 Locked mortise and tenon fastenings 124 Caldicot planking 186 4.24 Ship depicted on a Late Geometric vase from 5.17 Reconstruction model of Ferriby 1 186

Dipylon 128 5.18 Brigg ‘raft’ during excavation 187

4.25 Ship depicted on an eighth-century bowl 5.19 Structure of the Brigg ‘raft’ 187

from Thebes , 128 5.20 Reconstruction model of the Brigg ‘raft’ 188

, 4.26 Night sky in c.1000 Bc 130 5.21 Plans of the Caldicot fragment 189 4.27 Syrian ships depicted in the tomb of Kenamun yo 5.22 Structure of the Dover boat 190 4.28 Phoenician vessels on the Balawat gates 131 5.23 Reconstruction of the Hjortspring boat 191

4.29 Phoenician vessels towing timber 131 5.24 Hjortspring framing 192 . 4.30 Phoenician warships and cargo ships depicted 5.25 Log coffin from Loose Howe 193

| in the palace of Sennacherib 132 5.26 First-century Bc coins 196 4.31 Phoenician warship on a relief from Kuyundjik — 133 5.27 Blackfriars 1 plank to frame fastening 197

4.32, Sewn fastenings on the Place Jules-Verne 9 5.28 Blackfriars during excavation 197

wreck 39 5.29 Plans of the Barland’s Farm boat during

4.33 Plan of the Ma’agan-Michael wreck 136 excavation 198 4.34 Ljubljana boat's structure 137 5.30 Barland’s Farm joint between plank-keel,

4.35 Plank fastenings of the Nin boats 137 stern post, and floor F4. 199 4.36 Round-hulled boat model from Sardinia 139 5.31 Blackfriars 1: reconstructed section 199 4.37 Flat-bottomed boat model from Sardinia 139 5.32, Barland’s Farm boat: reconstruction

4.38 Plans of the trireme Olympias 142 drawings 199 4.39 Olympias’s performance under sail 144 5.33 Reconstruction model of the Barland’s 4.40 Plan of the Kyrenia wreck 149 Farm boat 201 4.41 ‘Transverse section of the Kyrenia ship 150 5.34 Plans of Bevaix boat 1 202

4.42 Frame to plank fastenings onthe Kyreniaship 150 5.35 Zwammerdam 6 during excavation 202

4.43 Transverse sections of the Madrague 5.36 Caulking methods in Bevaix 1 203

de Giens wreck 155 5.37 Zwammerdam 6: interior 203

4.44 Plan of the St Gervais 2 wreck 161 5.38 Boat depicted on the monument to Blussus 206

4.45 Midship section of the Serce Limani ship 163 5.39 Nydam 2 0n display 208 4.46 Fifteenth-century Venetian design methods 164 5.40 Transverse sections of Nordic vessels 209

5.1 Mapof northern Atlantic Europe and the 5.41 Sutton Hoo 2 during excavation 210

Baltic region 167 5.42 Oseberg ship: stern 213

5.2 Logboat Verup 1 from St Amose, Denmark 173 5.43 Gokstad ship: bows 215 5.3 Logboat from Pesse, Netherlands 173 5.44 Transverse sections of the Kléstad and

5.4 Brigg logboat after excavation 175 Askekarr ships 216 5.5 Apatch from the Brigg logboat “176 5.45 Clinker planking fastened by treenails 217

5.6 Early paddles 176 5.46 Graveney boat during excavation 219

5.7 Hasholme logboat during excavation 177 5.47 Oar thole from a crook 225 5.8 Hasholme logboat reconstructed 178 5.48 Skuldelev 3: reconstruction drawing 225

5.9 Repair to the Hasholme logboat 179 5.49 Skuldelev 3: building sequence 226

xviii List OF ILLUSTRATIONS

5.50 Clinker planking fastened by iron nails 226 6.26 Eighteenth-century pettoua 275 5.51 Transverse sections of Skuldelev 5 and 3 227 6.27 Reverse-clinker boat of Sylhet, Bangladesh 275

5.52 ‘Transverse sections of five Nordic ships 228 6.28 Plank fastenings of the Sylheti nauka 276 5.53 Reconstruction of Skuldelev 3 under sail 228 6.29 Bangladesh pallar with ‘hulc planking’ 276

5.54 Roar Ege’s performance under sail 229 6.30 Tuticorin thoni under sail 277

5.55 Winchelsea town seal 230 6.31 Tamil design methods 278 5.56 Stralsund town seal 233 7.1 Map of south-east Asia and Greater Australia 280 5.57 Reconstruction of the Bremen cog undersail 233 7.2. Visibility sectors on routes across ‘Wallacea’ 281

5.58 Kollerup and Bremen cogs 235 7.3 Nineteenth-century Tasmanian bark bundle

5.59 Cog caulking methods 236 rafts 284 5.60 New Shoreham town seal 2.40 7.4 Nineteenth-century Australian lashed bark

5.61 Winchester font 241 boats 286 _ 5.62 Seventh century strap-end from the 8.1 Map of south-east Asia 290 Pas de Calais 241 8.2 Twentieth-century Vietnamese basket boat 2904

| | 5.63 Seal of the Admiralty Court of Bristol 242 8.3. Nineteenth-century composite basket boat 2.95

5.64 Grace Dieu’s clinker planking 244 8.4 Coffin-logboats from Sarawak 296 5.65 A dovetail mortise on the Cattewater wreck 246 8.5 Fastenings of the Pontian and Butuan boats 2907

6.1 Map of south Asia 249 8.6 Vessel depicted in a Borobudur temple 303

6.2 Seal from Mohenjo-Daro 251 8.7 Boat depicted on a Dong So’n drum 304

6.3 Amulet from Mohenjo-Daro 251 8.8 Building a téna in Lambata 305

| 6.4 Graffito ona potsherd from , 8.9 Fastenings on Vietnamese sewn-plank boats 305 Mohenjo-Daro 251 8.10 Methods of using framing to force planking

6.5 Medallion from Baharut 254 together 306 6.6 Boat depicted on a Sanchi stupa 254 8.11 Sixteenth-century vessels in the Banda Sea 309

6.7. Satavahanas coins 254 9.1 Map of Oceania 312

6.8 Vessel depicted in Aurangabad cave 254 9.2 Map of Near and Remote Oceania 313 6.9 Vessel depicted in Ajanta cave 17 255 9.3 Buoyed raft from the Chatham islands 320

6.10 Vessel depicted in Ajanta cave 1 255 9.4 Nineteenth-century log raft from Mangareva 321

6.11 Vessel depicted in Ajanta cave 2 255 9.5 Two methods of fastening a strake toa

6.12 Map of the Indian Ocean 256 logboat 322 6.13 Twentieth-century buoyed raft on the 9.6 Maori lever for tightening stitches 323 River Swat 263 9.7. Twentieth-century reconstruction of a

6.14 Seventeenth-century catamaran 264 Maori warboat 323 6.15 Twentieth-century catamaran 264 9.8 Nineteenth-century sewn-plank boat

6.16 Hide boat during building in southern India 2.65 from Tuamotu 324

6.17 Bengal pot boat 266 9.9 Seventeenth-century Tongan double-hull

6.18 Seventeenth-century boats off the boat , 325 Malabar coast 267 9.10 Nineteenth-century single outrigger boats in , 6.19 Nineteenth-century Malabar pairedlogboats 268 the Carolines 328

6.20 Nineteenth-century sewn-plank boats off 9.11 Sixteenth-century single outrigger boat |

the Coromandel coast 270 in the Marianas 329

6.21 Seventeenth-century ‘massoda’ 270 9.12 Doran’s classification of Oceanic rigs 333 6.22. Vadhera technique of plank fastening 271 9.13 Oceanic aids to navigation 343

6.23 Model of a masula 272 10.1 Map of China 347 , 6.24 Clinker and reverse-clinker planking 274 10.2 Ideogram chou: boat 350 6.25 Eleventh/ twelfth-century reverse-clinker 10.3 Taiwanese log raft model 351

planking 274 10.4 Coffin-logboat from Sichuan 352

, LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Xix 10.5 Sewn-plank fastenings of a Hainanislandboat 354 11.9 Asimple reed raft 404 10.6 Early boat from Anapchi Pond, Korea 355 11.10 Compressing a reed bundle 405 10.7. First-century ap pottery boat model 356 1.11 Model bundle raft, some 20,000 years old,

10.8 Ideogram fan: sail 356 from Chile 405 10.9 Canals in northern China 359 11.12 Nineteenth-century Chilean float raft 406 10.10 Measured drawing of the Wandoisland vessel 362 11.13. Twentieth-century distribution of hide boats

10.11 Map of the Quanzhou region 363 and bark boats 408 10.12 Quanzhou 1 during excavation 363 11.14 Eighteenth-century New Englandbarkboat 409

10.13 Quanzhou 1: interior 364 11.15 River Kutenai bark boat 410 10.14 Quanzhou 1: plan and section 364 11.16 Tierra del Fuego bark boats AII

10.15 Quanzhou t: keel scarf 364 11.17 Nineteenth-century ‘bull boat’ 413 10.16 Quanzhou 1: transverse section 365 11.18 Umiak from Greenland 414

10.17 Junails in the Quanzhou1and Penglai wrecks 366 11.19 Greenland kayak 4I4

10.18 Plans of the Shinan wreck 369 11.20 Sixteenth-century kayak 415 10.19 Plans of the Penglai wreck 371 11.21 Nineteenth-century umiak 417 10.20 Twentieth-century plans of a Yangtze Dragon 11.22 Aleutian biadarkas 418

Boat 382 11.23 Eighteenth-century kayak from Canada 418

10.21 Plank fastenings in a recent boat from 11.24 Framework of a fourteenth-/fifteenth-

Honshu, Japan 383 century Greenland umiak A2I

| 10.22 Map of eastern China, Korea, and Japan 386 11.25 Building a logboat in sixteenth-century

10.23 Maritime Silk Route 388 Virginia 423

11.1 Map of the Bering Strait region 394 11.26 Sixteenth-century Virginian logboat

11.2 Map of the Americas , 395 underpaddles 424 11.3. Seventeenth-century South American log raft 399 11.27 Nootka and Salish logboats 425 11.4 Twentieth-century log raft off Brazil 400 11.28 Nineteenth-century extended logboat with

11.5 Sixteenth-century log rafts off Ecuador 401 stabilizers 426 11.6 Nineteenth century log raft off Ecuador 402 11.29 Reconstruction of a sewn-plank tomol 428

11.7. Guares of c.300 BC from Peru 402 Gi _ Diagram of rigging terms 466 11.8 Twentieth-century bundle raft from Peru 403 G2 Diagram of transverse stability 467

In a few instances we may have been unable to trace the copyright holder before publication. If notified, the publishers will be pleased to amend the acknowledgements in any future edition.

List of Tables

1.1 Classification of boat types 9 1.2 A theoretical assessment of early water transport II

4.1 Visibility distances from sea level 99 4.2 Reconstructions of a Thera ship 120

and earlier 146

_ 43 Plank and frame fastenings in vessels of the fourth century Bc

4.4 Mortise breadths per unit length of planking 156

4.5 Comparison of the framing in three ships 157 5.1 Hull data of selected fourth-tenth-century Nordic Vessels 214 5.2 Hull data of selected eleventh-twelfth-century Nordic Vessels 223

cargo ships 231

5.3. Hull data of selected thirteenth-fourteenth-century Nordic

5.4 Hull data of selected twelfth—fifteenth-century cogs 234

9.1 Six types of Oceanic rig 334

Abbreviations

AJA American Journal of Archaeology

Antiq. J Antiquaries Journal BAH Berichte tiber die Ausgrabungen in Haithabu

BAR | British Archaeological Reports , CBA | Council for British Archaeology IJNA International Journal of Nautical Archaeology

| INA Institute of Nautical Archaeology | ISBSA International Seminars on Boat and Ship Archaeology Med. Arch. — Medieval Archaeology

MM Mariner’s Mirror OJA Oxford Journal of Archaeology PPS Proceedings of Prehistoric Society

SAS South Asian Studies

Conventions used in the text

MEASUREMENTS

¢ Dimensions of vessels are given in the order L x B x D, where L = length; B = breadth; D = depth of hull. e Measurements are given in metres except when the original data were in imperial units when they are given with metres in parentheses. ¢ Spacings of fastening holes, frames etc., are given from centre to centre. DISTANCES AND SPEEDS

¢ Distances at sea are given in nautical miles, and speeds in knots. 1 nautical mile =

1.853 km. 1 knot = 1.15 statute miles/hour = 1 nautical mile/hour. ABBREVIATIONS

b: mean breadth of keel below bottom planking d: depth of keel below bottom planking m: moulded dimension of a timber s: sided dimension of a timber

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I SOURCES AND THEMES

I.1 gear; overseas colonizations and trade routes; trade and cargo handling; changes in past climates, sea levels,

Maritime Ar chaeology and and coastlines; and early seafaring and navigational Boat Archaeolo oy techniques (McGrail, 1995c: 329). A study of all aspects

of maritime archaeology by a single author would necessarily be uneven in quality with some parts at an eleThe principal subject of this study is water transport, | mentary level: such a task would better be tackled by a that is, rafts, boats, and ships. Research into water _—_ group of specialist authors. The present work leaves to

transport, a subject sometimes known as ‘boat archae- one side much of maritime archaeology (although ology’, is just one aspect of the maritime subdiscipline every aspect is at least touched upon in some part of of archaeology which may be defined as ‘the study of __ the text) to focus on rafts, boats, and ships. Moreover, the nature and past behaviour of Man in his use of although planked vessels are dealt with in some detail, those special environments associated with lakes, | emphasis is placed on rafts and non-plank boats whenrivers, and seas’ (McGrail, 1989a: 10). In addition to ever the evidence allows, since in all regions of the water transport, this research area includes the study — world these are the craft most likely to have been used of landing places and harbours, as well as the study of in earliest times about which we know least. The aim is the building, use, and performance of rafts, boats,and —_ to present a history of water transport as it has develships (Fig. 1.1). It also includes: anchors and fishing —_ oped over millennia in the regions of the world, in as much as the evidence available at present allows.

W ARITIME

Come

I.2

— = S Sources of Evidence Operations

Water transport

This study is based whenever possible on archaeologi-

| alee cal evidence, in particular the excavated remains of water transport. Outside Europe such evidence is rare, HOC C™#*”

. . cabins/shrines iat a, 2." %2 bs, toalcarry . . | the : i OME +. ; FTUERIT . po ehhot| poles next to these appear

v7 emblem of various nomes (political divisions) of Upper _ | Egypt (Bass, 1972: 13). The palm branch atoneend(the fig. 2.4. Craft with banners and shrines depicted on a vase of

bow?) may be there to provide shade for the lookout as _c.3200 ac (after Landstrém, 1970: fig. 14).

EGYPT 19

palm branch, may be a simple means of using a follow- te Le -

ing wind (R. Bowen, 1960). At least one vessel (Lands- Mak x trom, 1970: fig. 10) shows three distinctive steering r ' ‘4* »cw@Les, ’-

paddles or oars. cf ~ | } 7 “a ae

Other pottery paintings of this period show craft ‘ fi ; 4 Ls b } with inward turning ends and lines across the hull eM ‘ 1 9 ae

. = . f BYLY , £> ‘ ' ‘ ‘ Bf r : “t*

: . , .; °:. ,° 9OT Pe ribs. — ’ . ‘om. 4 . “a : ‘ ; r5»t -. .*” ¥ ,. . . .| .|ry =MSP) ., °. bd ey yt &¢. .'i‘ a ’ ed ieSe ae / e,mE Lyuy '..: “ —_ 7 ‘ * ‘v ss ‘ /s |2’_ che a _: ia a } es “ts qQin +4DLN eid 7,an Z. : ; : * ke. a ‘a £ ane ; 7 . oe : . — 1 ay te A ae ¢ > i v< : f sy = A LE ee ee ™ — . ’ . % " = 7 t. v 5 py, an . 2 .

which suggest that these are representations of reed } Pet iy %, x bundle rafts (Landstrém, 1970: figs. 11, 12, 13). ie Ye »\ Pad. De From c.3100 Bc in the proto-dynastic period (Nagada . pa. . 3. 4 S. 3=Samaiden), which (O'Connor, appears to merge Dynasty "yy 4F iae“iBe 74 \ of the historic period 19804:into 129), comes 1! i YY,

the earliest depiction of a true sail (Fig. 2.5). The boat Jr i a wi f°

on this pot (BM 36326) has a square sail on a pole mast . ff A ey Pp stepped near one end. The boat has a distinctive shape : me) 4 Y (eh oe

with high, near-vertical, ends. Such a hull form is also pa iD, eC » a

seen with curved on the ivory han- a '~}4tem dle of(along a knife (Fig. 2.6) hull said vessels) to be from Gebel-el-Arak, . : :NA we)) 4

and in a painting formerly on the brick walls Late ‘aS. ‘Be.ofVr, a, Yt ee \ > | me ~~ A | P Te ’

rm! : ih. wa tie Urata ie hd GY

ee We odee og MEes ee i ee Bee ON . =" a

iri . 7 SS elite Fig. 2.6. Two types of craft carved on an ivory knife-handle Ben ay hin $ P es Pi 1a from Gebel-el-Arak (Louvre, Paris).

Pete 7 csp al Oo Mile ee

{ Bee ol ae oy eB Gerzean tomb 100 in Hieraconpolis, again with curved

‘7‘4 ’ »* : . ’ af Ke * 3 . 4 ; J . : ‘ . 15 * ll ; ] e: y

) Marx] » heal $ ’ ff f° hull vessels in the vicinity (Bass, 1972: fig. 6; Landstrém, ’ Pae ao le Ca Age PN : ie 1970: figs. 16,17)—both representations are dated to