Author Description

Writing the early history of shipbuilding in the Aegean area is primarily an exercise in creating a narrative from pictorial evidence'. Evidence for Bronze Age shipping rarely comes from actual wrecks and, although a small number have been uncovered, these are typically incomplete and difficult to interpret in general terms. Therefore we rely on piecing together information from other, primarily pictorial sources: wall paintings, vases, sherds, sealstones and finger rings and ship models. This book not only contains a catalogue of 370 representations believed by various scholars to be ships, but includes a theoretical and interpretive analysis of this evidence and what it infers about the design and use of ships; the design of the bow and stern; modes of propulsion; hull morphology; bow-projections and warships; cult and ritual significance. Examples are taken from Crete, the Cycladic islands, the Peloponnese, the southern mainland and the Ionian islands.