Ancient Ships

""En Filipo II y el Arte de la Guerra tendremos la oportunidad de conocer en profundidad a uno de los más grandes reyes de la antigua Macedonia. Gracias a su habilidad como estratega, diplomático, político y soldado, heredó un reino pobre, débil y acosado por innumerables enemigos y lo transformó en el más poderoso de toda Grecia.

A lo largo de sus páginas podremos conocer la historia del reino Macedonio, desde sus orígenes míticos hasta la formación de un imperio, de la mano del que, a la postre, se convertiría en el padre del mítico Alejandro Magno y en el forjador de un nuevo ejército que cambiaria el devenir de la guerra en la Antigüedad. Filipo II fue el creador de la falange macedonia, formación que se demostraría como inigualable en el campo de batalla y que reportaría incontables victorias sobre poderosos enemigos, como los ilirios, los tesalios, los tracios, los beocios o los atenienses. Pero no sólo eso, logró integrar en el campo de batalla a la infantería y a la caballería para emplearlos en nuevas formaciones tácticas: armó a sus soldados con las míticas sarissas y apreció como pocos las posibilidades militares que la maquinaria de guerra podía proporcionarle, siendo el mecenas de numerosos avances en este campo. Soñó con conquistar el Imperio persa, cuando ya había logrado lo que nadie antes fue capaz: el control de Grecia.

Sólo la muerte le arrebató esa hazaña, pero sentó las bases de lo que más tarde conseguiría su propio hijo. Su figura levantó tanto odios como pasiones; se le conocía como mujeriego y bebedor, pero también por su habilidad para la oratoria, por sus astucia, determinación y valor. Siempre luchó en primera línea junto a sus soldados y nunca permitió que éstos le llamaran rey, sino solo "General".

Abstract
The Lod mosaic, discovered in the city bearing that name in Israel, was laid in a luxurious villa urbana in the
late 3rd or early 4th century AD. It contains inter alia a nautical scene presented as a floor carpet in the form of a
pond. The scene includes sea life and two ships. One is sailing freely while the other, facing the opposite direction,
is becalmed and perhaps in distress. The scene, in that place and time, symbolized the penetration into this
country of the sea-oriented Greco-Roman culture. The pond containing the sea life and the vessels conveyed
the idea of the sea, full of life, as a representation of the world organized by its creator. The scene details of
the sea symbolize the truism “big fish eat little fish,” which also appears in contemporary literature. The vessels
symbolize life as a sea voyage, also reflected in contemporary sources. The two ships affected contrarily
by the same wind suggest the metaphor that a benefit divinely granted to one may be undesirable to another,
and that it is impossible to appease everyone all the time. Such ships could also present additional ship associated
symbolic concepts. To the modern observer the pond and its contents look as if they were purposefully
and successfully designed to fit most cultural backgrounds of contemporary viewers, be they Jews, Christians,
Samaritans or pagans.
Keywords: Mosaic, marine motifs, Roman-Byzantine, ships, sea monsters.

In this paper, we discuss the problem of object detection in a cultural heritage application context. In particular, the objects to be detected are ancient rock carvings, discovered at the archaeological site of Vathy, Astypalaia in Greece. Without the help of a marker or a human expert, the rock carvings are extremely difficult for a visitor of the site to discern from their surroundings. We explore the possibility of using a computational method that could replace the human expert and detect the rock carvings of interest without the aid of a specific marker. We present a dataset of images that is comprised of annotated photographs of the rock carvings, taken in situ and under differing poses and lighting parameters. Two methods for detection are applied; the first method makes use of a supervised, deep learning-based model, while the other relies on feature point-based matching to an annotated template, in the context of which we propose a simple image matching distance. We show that each method is applicable under different conditions, and evaluate their effectiveness with numerical trials.

Knowledge regarding prehistoric and Predynastic Egypt is informed significantly by the analysis of Petroglyphs found on rocks at many different desert sites. Here the depictions of boats, called by Winkler “square boats”, are very important for understanding the contacts of Egypt with Eastern Peoples and for the History of Navigation itself. Unknown artists show vessels which  are foreign to Egypt tradition. How was this possible in the fourth millennium BC? What was the level of commercial and cultural contacts with the East ? This paper tries to add a little step forward.

Il Seminario di storia e storiografia italiana (Dipartimento di lingua e letteratura italiana dell’Università nazionale e capodistriaca di Atene - Laboratorio di storia e storiografia italiana) vi invita al seminario della Prof.ssa Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek (Università di Zagabria, Facoltà di Studi Croati), con il titolo:

I Regesti marittimi croati del Settecento:
metodologia per l'analisi di navigli


Il seminario si terrà giovedì 24 marzo 2022 (19:00, ora greca) in lingua italiana e si potrà seguire mediante il link:
https://uoa.webex.com/uoa/j.php?MTID=m0331b122f0a17c2f52e9222da612a302 Meeting number: 2733 842 8677  Password: sXJYmvXv236

http://www.ill.uoa.gr/seminario-italikis-istorias-kai-istoriografias.html
https://www.facebook.com/groups/labstoria/permalink/655321615704182/

Riassunto
I Regesti marittimi croati (RMC) fanno parte di un progetto più ampio - il Codice Marittimo Diplomatico Croato che comprende in tutto circa 100.000 documenti riguardanti la presenza croata nell’Adriatico e nel Mediterraneo. Suo fautore è il prof. Nikola Čolak che lo ha intrapreso nel 1956 a Zadar e per quarant’anni ha lavorato in vari archivi adriatici alla ricerca di documenti che mappassero la vita adriatica e mediterranea dei secoli passati. L’obbiettivo del progetto è la pubblicazione sistematica di fonti primarie riguardanti la storia marittima dei territori croati in una collezione di 20 volumi, i Regesti Marittimi Croati.
I documenti offrono un’incredibile abbondanza di informazioni di tipo onomastico, toponomastico e naturalmente generali quali merci e persone trasportate, le rotte, gli usi e i costumi, tipi di navigli, scorci di vita quotidiana come baruffe fra marinai, lotte in mare aperto, piraterie e attacchi corsari, rapporti internazionali fra i vari stati.
Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek continua il lavoro del prof. Čolak, continuando la pubblicazione della collana dei regesti e inserendola nel contesto delle Digital Humanities per una migliore e veloce ricerca ed analisi di concetti chiave utili nelle varie discipline umanistiche.
Dopo una introduzione al progetto ed ai documenti stessi verranno illustrati tre possibili tipi di analisi operate sulle fonti grazie al sistema di ricerca in PDF ovvero su materiale OCR.

I navigli.
Nella prima parte “I navigli” verranno presentati tutti i tipi ed elementi distintivi dei navigli menzionati nei primi tre volumi dei Regesti marittimi croati (RMC I-III) che comprendono circa 16.000 documenti riguardanti, tra l’altro, i velieri in uso nell’Adriatico durante il Settecento. Lo studio espone 18.536 menzioni di bastimenti classificati in 79 termini diversi messi a confronto rispetto l’etimologia e caratteristiche peculiari di ogni natante (quali stazza, attrezzatura velica, uso e quant’altro). L’analisi dimostra che i piccoli paroni preferivano velieri più piccoli, dalla portata fra le 20 e 300 t, essendo più veloci e manovrabili con buone capacità di navigazione. Si trattava innanzitutto del trabaccolo con il 14,55% di presenza nei documenti, poi della tartana (11,49%), del pielego (8,06%), della polacca (6,23%), della marciliana (6,18%), della feluca (5,10%), della barca (4,86%), della checcia (2,21%) e della brazzera (2,01%). I velieri minori, ovvero piccoli e medi, di portata inferiore alle 300 t, rappresentavano perfino il 70,82% di tutti i bastimenti nominati, mentre i velieri maggiori, di portata superiore alle 310 t, fra cui le grandi navi/nave ovvero vascelli (15,33%) ed i fregatoni (4,36%) avevano mantenuto il 20,65% del traffico marittimo, soprattutto verso le Isole Ionie ed altri porti mediterranei. Tramite l’analisi comparata delle loro caratteristiche e peculiarità verrà dimostrato che fra i porti delle coste orientali e occidentali dell’Adriatico nel Settecento vi era un intenso commercio quotidiano e che tale traffico era caratterizzato da un forte dinamismo del piccolo e medio ceto imprenditoriale che è riuscito ad imporsi sia nel commercio marittimo che nella costruzione navale che ha interessato ambo le coste adriatiche.


C.V.

Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek è nata a Zagabria nel 1970, cresciuta a Padova dove ha studiato Lingua e letteratura italiana con indirizzo storico-religioso, trasferitasi a Zagabria si laurea in Storia e Lingua e letteratura italiana.
Dal 2010 collabora con l'Archivio di Stato Croato al progetto dei Regesti marittimi croati del XVIII secolo, il cui III vol. con 4.000 fonti inedite pubblica nel 2017 come edizione della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia di Split.
Nel 2018 discute la sua tesi di dottorato Pellegrinaggi e pellegrini a Loreto e Assisi nei Regesti marittimi croati del XVIII secolo: l'ermeneutica antropologica dei viaggi religiosi. È traduttrice ed interprete di lingua italiana; membro della Matica hrvatska, e, fra l’altro, del comitato organizzativo della Jewish Studies Winter School di Dubrovnik con Mihal Brandl e Andrea Feldman. Suo campo di ricerca sono il Codice marittimo diplomatico croato (con circa 100.000 fonti), i pellegrinaggi, l'antropologia del sacro, i tipi di navigli, gli Ebrei nel Settecento. Sta compilando il IV vol. dei Regesti marittimi croati del XVIII secolo con ulteriori 4.000 fonti – il tutto all’interno di un’ampia arcata digitale per una veloce e precisa ricerca dei finora 16.000 documenti adriatici pubblicati.
Nel 2020 è stata eletta Research associate e, nel 2021, Assistant professor presso il Dipartimento di Storia della Facoltà di Studi Croati dove, dal semestre estivo 2020/21, tiene il corso Navigli croati in Età moderna.
Ha pubblicato finora 16 lavori storiografici, di cui un libro con 4.000 fonti inedite in italiano, ed una monografia scientifica, Navigli adriatici fra le due sponde nel Settecento, Pesaro 2021. Ha partecipato a 16 congressi ed a 11 presentazioni del III vol. dei Regesti marittimi croati del Settecento.

A “frying pan” of some interest, since it depicts a longboat, (Syros Museum 1163)  was found in a rescue excavation conducted under the direction of the author in the Roussos field at Chalandriani in Syros in 2002-2008. The field lies in the West Sector of the Early Cycladic Chalandriani cemetery . The excavation revealed 28 undisturbed graves of the corbelled type with grave goods more or less similar to those from Tsountas’s excavations, and distinguished by their variety and wealth. The new find (from Grave VII), besides enlarging the corpus of known depictions of longboats on ‘frying pans’, provides an opportunity, because of its well-documented contexts, to understand better certain aspects of these intriguing objects and the EBA II Chalandriani society they reflect.

Evidence for Ancient Egyptian boatbuilding during the Late Period (664-332 BC) is very scarce and thus the description of Herodotus (“Histories” II.96, c.450 BC) of the local Egyptian boat called “baris” is of great interest. Different translations of this fragment caused much debate. Excavations by the European Institute of Underwater Archaeology in Egypt allowed locating over sixty shipwrecks in the harbour area and channels of the submerged city of Thonis-Heracleion and at least eighteen of them are dated to the Late Period. The construction of shipwreck 17 has been studied during three excavation seasons (2009-2011) and it shows many parallels with the description of Herodotus. This ressemblance starts with the construction material and continues with both longitudinal and transversal structure of the ship as well as with its steering and propulsion system. Shipwreck 17 provides new data that allows not only to consider in detail the construction of this ship but also to propose some general conclusions on the constructional principles and methods characteristic to the Late Period many of which remain unique to the Ancient Egyptian boatbuilding tradition. A three-dimensional modeling of this ship gives an opportunity to make an estimate of its technical characteristics.

Much has been written on the use of lead and copper sheathing in post mediaeval shipbuilding, yet evidence for such hull protection by Dutch shipwrights in the 17th and 18th centuries has received little attention. A discussion of the archaeological and historical evidence pertaining to the application of copper and lead sheathing by the Dutch long-distance trading companies outlines the argument for the innovative character, experimental use—on ships’ hulls—and standardization—on sternposts—as early as 1602. Archaeological evidence presented mainly comes from the Dutch East Indiamen Nassau (1606), Mauritius (1609), Batavia (1629), Vergulde Draak (1656), and Buitenzorg (1760).

This examination of C. Duilius (consul in 260 BCE) and his achievements consists of a series of linked hypotheses, each suggested by direct evidence for Duilius' activities and contextualized by near-contemporary precedents (wherever possible) or relevant analogues from slightly later periods. Taken together, these hypotheses suggest that the elogium on Duilius’ rostral column may be read not only as an account of a capable commander who destroyed the myth of Carthaginian supremacy at sea, but also as an encomium on a generous benefactor to Rome’s citizenry. The inscription’s redactor successfully asserted Duilius’ preeminence among his peers, symbolized by the imagery and position of the rostral column commemorating his naval victory that was erected by order of the Senate and Roman people near the Comitium and Rostra. The cumulative evidence also suggests that the inscription’s reference to Duilius’ distribution of ‘naval booty’ to the Roman people involved the conversion of massive amounts of captured bronze, including the rostra removed from Punic ships, into “coinage,” i.e., the brick-sized aes signatum coins dated to c. 260 which bear naval imagery. Thus, by turning a mundane medium of exchange into a vehicle of propaganda through which his exploits and generosity could be ‘broadcast’, Duilius was able to reemphasize his new status as the first Roman celebrate a naval triumph. He could do this because the coins constituted a special triumphal/manubial issue under his authority, and he was therefore not subject to the constraints, real or implied, that kept Rome’s annual moneyers from issuing coins with personally significant types for another 125 years. His sudden emergence as a leading figure in Rome was rewarded with other honors, including a prestigious censorship in 258 and a perpetual personal honor, also bestowed by the SPQR, that allowed him to “triumph” to the end of his long life.

From the article's conclusion:
"Gaius Duilius has long been acknowledged as the first Roman to win a sea-battle, the first to celebrate a naval triumph, the first to be honored with a rostral column, and the first to present a gift derived from naval booty to the Roman people. Indeed, he came to be seen primarily as the man who set Rome on the road to maritime expansion and, ultimately, domination of the Mediterranean world. He was remembered also as the first (if not only) man to have a flute-player and wax-torch bearer accompany him home from feasts, as if he were perpetually triumphing. Now, we may add to Duilius’ list of firsts: he was the first politician to utilize Roman coinage to broadcast a new ideology of Rome’s (hoped for) naval greatness and dominance of the Mediterranean; he was also, it seems, the first Roman politician to use coinage as a medium for self-promotion, a century and a quarter before anyone would do it again."


Key words:

Gaius Duilius
Rostral Column
Naval Triumph
Naval Warfare
Battle of Mylae
Aes Signatum
Roman Navy
Roman Republic
Roman numismatics
Roman Topography
Punic Wars
First Punic War
Roman Epigraphy
Latin Epigraphy
Trireme
Quinquireme
Roman ships
Fasti Triumphales
Summi Viri
Octavian
Augustus
Forum Augustum / Augusti

This is my unpublished master's thesis for nautical archaeology and anthropology at Texas A&M Master's. It was overseen by George Bass and Fred Van Doorninck. It would need substantial re-working textually, but especially graphically, to be published. It was created using an ancient technology called "Word Perfect 4.2"

"""Ship 17 of Thonis-Hercaleion is the first vessel from the submerged city of Heracleion-Thonis in Egypt yet excavated. The peculiar constructional features of this ship, which dates to the Late Period (664–332 BC), allow us to argue for a new type of construction that finds parallels in Herodotus’ description of a Nilotic freighter called baris (History, 2.96, c.450 BC). The aim of this article is to present the main characteristics of this construction without going too far into technical details.
Keywords: Maritime archaeology, Ancient shipbuilding, Ancient shipwrecks, Naval architecture (History), Late Period in Egypt, Herodotus."""

This dissertation intends to observe how the Roman Republic organises itself as a maritime power following the Punic Wars, analysing it as a thalassocracy in sequence of the evolution of a strategic naval thought as a conductive line of the Mediterranean city-states. We will observe the evolution of the naval investment from the reformations of Gaius Marius in 107 BCE until the death of Gaius Julius Caesar Octauianus in 14 CE. An observation of the naval command processes is intended, as well as a study of the evolution, construction and typology of vessels and respective functions, analysing the armada and the commercial vessels both in maritime and river contexts. The analysis of the supporting infrastructural network to the navy, namely harbours and shipsheds, will also be included. These problematics will be observed through an interdisciplinary perspective, creating a thorough study of these keywords that allows for the observation of the construction of the Roman influence area from the maritime and river space.

The vases which are painted with black figured technique firstly appeared in 7th century B.C in Corinth. The works which were produced by Corinthian craftsmen were commonly in Mediterranean region on the first half of 6th century. After that the red figured ceramics which were emerged in 520 B.C in Athenian, replaced the black figured technique and continued to be used until the end of 3th century B.C. Contrary to black figured technique which was painted black figures on the red ground, the red figured technique took its name from the paintings that was made red figures on the black ground. The most important development of ship making was happened in warships. The pentacontors are warships which have 25 oarsmen at one side, in both side totally 50 oarsmen. In 8th century B.C. Athenian vases has depicted the same ships as that. After that pentacontors were strongly build with putting ram on the bow of the ships. According to Thucydides before the Persian invasions the Greek fleet had lots of pentacontors. Triremes were emerged by multiplying the numbers of oarsmen in one line, double to triple in pentacontors. It was learned the triremes were first used from Corinth’s colonization process in 7th century B.C. there are a few written documents left from that time about triremes. The trireme actually takes its name from 3 lined oarsmen shaped warships. The ship accommodates not only 170 oarsmen and deck crews but also 30 seamen in the same place. It has been a center of a lifelong
arguable problem for scientists how 3 persona groups are placed at the same ground. Nevertheless, with the help of painting ceramics depictions have showed important clues about triremes. The depictions are playing the most important role while understanding triremes, because there are no real models which dated back from that time. It is understandable that the triremes which were build to defuse the enemy ships with its eyed figured spur, were light and fast.
On the other hand, in Aegean region had a dense commercial movement in 5 century B.C.the merchant ships which were carrying olive oil and vine filled amphorae, were sailing every corner of Mediterranean Sea. The merchant ships of that era were known with the depictions of vase paintings and some various carvings, no matter how they had not technological improvements as warships. These ships are generally one sailed small and annular shaped ships which carry loads
from one harbor to another.
Therefore, the technological changes of the ships are noted with the lights of ancient age vase paintings. The painters of vases are depicting the exact mythological action or a scene of
diurnal life in their works. While doing this, perhaps without realizing, they are keeping successfully the secrets of the fashion and technology of that era.

This paper is devoted to the debatable issue of presence versus absence of a keel in the construction of Egyptian ships of the dynastic period. It analyses ship representations and models dating to the 18th-20th dynasties of the New Kingdom that can serve as evidence for the introduction of a keel in Egyptian shipbuilding, and introduces new archaeological material that sheds more light on the question.

Island of Izola its vicinity in Roman period: Archaeological excavations in the area of Manzioli palace
The presented work is dedicated to the review of archaeological sites from Roman period in Izola and surrounding area, with focus on Manzioli palace, Manzioli square and the church of st. Mary of Alieto. During the excavations of Manzioli palace between the 1990–2000 period, a roman wall with accompanying layer of roof tiles rubble, was discovered. Small archaeological finds indicate the settlement of the discussed area, representing a part of former island of Isola in the early 1st century AD. Large altitude differences in geological base of the island prove that the area of present day market square and church used to be a natural harbor. This is further confirmed by the discovered sediments rich with organic material, which represents the edge of the harbor.

Within the Imperial coinage depictions of ships appear on the reverses from the mid-1st to the end of the 4th century. These can be divided into five phases of minting. Warships as motifs only appear frequently in the 2nd century under Hadrian, since this motif had previously been avoided, probably because of its common use during the late Republic. At first they occur in the context of Imperial journeys, only from the 3rd century onwards do military aspects come to the fore. During Late Antiquity the representations become continually simplistic and, moreover, show the figure of the larger-than-life sized emperor on deck. The more seldom images of merchant ships from Domitian to Commodus, as well as those of the harbor Portus Augusti during the Neronian and Trajanic period, can be accounted by the efforts to secure the food supply for the city of Rome. The representations of ships on Imperial provincial issues, which are only dealt with cursorily, date to a period from the early 1st to the second half of the 3rd century.

In der kaiserzeitlichen Reichsprägung kommen von der Mitte des 1. Jahrhunderts bis zum Ende des 4. Jahrhunderts Schiffe als Reversdarstellungen vor. Diese werden in fünf Prägephasen eingeteilt. Kriegsschiffe als Motive erscheinen erst im 2. Jahrhundert unter Hadrian häufig, da dieses Motiv vor, wohl aufgrund seiner massenhaften Verwendung in den Zeiten der späten Republik, gemieden wurde. Zunächst stehen sie im Kontext von Kaiserreisen, erst ab dem 3 Jahrhundert stehen militärische Aspekte in den Vordergrund. In der Spätantike werden die Darstellungen immer weiter vereinfacht und zeigen zudem die Figur des überlebensgroßen Kaisers an Deck. Die selteneren Darstellungen von Handelsschiffen von Domitian bis Commodus sowie diejenigen des Hafen Portus Augusti in neronischer und traianischer Zeit lassen sich auf die Bemühungen zur Sicherung der Lebensmittelversorgung der Stadt Rom zurückführen. Die nur kurz behandelten Schiffsdarstellungen auf kaiserzeitlichen Provinzialprägungen datieren in einen Zeitrum vom frühen 1. bis in die  zweite Hälfte des 3. Jahrhunderts.

The aim of this paper is to present the analysis of a selection of archaeological materials included in the arqua collection. The items examined are related to fishing activities and have been found in submarine contexts off the coast of Murcia. This analysis has been carried out within the framework of my doctoral studies, currently in progress and through which I intend to compile the evidence for fishing activities in Hispania. This work is the first study with these characteristics in the area, and aims at completing the already available information concerning the coast of the Tarraconensis.

The ploion hellenikon, πλοίον ἑλληνικόν or ‘Greek boat,’ was a distinctive, Greek-style vessel which sailed the Nile from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. Its significance, its uses, and the origin and rationale for its name, can only be related through an understanding of the history and forms of the vessels which sailed the Nile in antiquity.

The volume is the publication of the proceedings of the international colloquium ‘La batellerie égyptienne’ (The Egyptian River Craft) held in Alexandria in June 2010. Organized by the Centre d’Études Alexandrines, the event brought together many renowned researchers, French-speaking in the majority, working in the field of ancient shipbuilding and navigation.

Riassunto. La navigazione nell'Adriatico in epoca arcaica, tra il IX e il VI sec. a.C., si caratterizza per una fitta rete di scambi e contatti interni, sia in senso est-ovest, tra le due coste, sia in senso nord-sud. Tale situazione, ben documentata a live-llo archeologico, trova riscontro in un piccolo nucleo di iconografie navali, databili tra il VII e il VI / inizi V sec. a.C. che presentano caratteristiche peculiari nel più ampio panorama dell'iconografia navale del Mediterraneo. Si riscontrano, infatti, tipologie navali specifiche in cui, al posto dei classici timoni laterali, compare per la prima volta un timone unico al centro della poppa, che anticipa una soluzione tecnica introdotta a livello generale solo nel Medioevo. In base al riscontro dell'iconografia, l'uso di questo timone rimane un fatto isolato al VII-VI secolo e al solo Adriatico centro-settentrionale.
Abstract. Adriatic navigation in archaic period, between IX and VI century BC, is characterized by a dense network of inner exchanges and contacts, both in east-west direction, between both coasts, and in north-south direction. This situation is well reflected by archaeological findings and also by a small group of naval iconographies dated back between VII and VI / early V century BC, representing peculiar features inside the largest context of ancient Mediterranean naval iconography. It is recognized specific naval typologies with a central rudder instead of the classical ancient side rudders , a technical solution introduced at a general level, as known, only in the Middle Ages. Based on the ancient naval iconography, the use of this archaic central rudder is a fact confined chronologically to the VII-VI century BC and geographically to the only central-northern Adriatic Sea.

This paper presents a Roman ship that was excavated in 2003 near the castellum Laurium (Woerden, the Netherlands). The ship, called the Woerden 7, was built in 162/163 AD and shows all the characteristics of a Roman barge or cargo ship of the Zwammerdam type. There are, however, two remarkable aspects, which make the Woerden 7 stand out. First, it was found to have had a oar arrangement, which presumes that the ship could be moved by manpower (upstream). Second, next to woods from German soil, Dutch oak woods had been used in the primary construction of the ship. This demonstrates that the ship was probably built on a yard somewhere in the Dutch river area. These findings have shed new lights on river transportation and shipbuilding along the limes of Germania Inferior.

Nilotic navigation is at the heart of several hundreds of papyrus documents of the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The formal conventions and practices, variable over time, in which they are framed, certainly constitute one of the limits to their use by the modern historian. Even within these limits, however, this documentation constitutes a first rate tool for appreciating the evolution of boats used on the Nile and shows the marked specificities of the Hellenistic period and of the related economic model of transport. In addition, it allows for an appreciation of the variety of shipping types and the solutions found regarding the supply of wood, as well as the uses to which these boats of varying construction techniques and propulsion systems were put.

ABSTRACT-The boat depictions that adorn pre-dynastic Gerzean, Naqada II, D-ware pottery  vases are often described as ‘sickle boats.’ This familarity barely hides the deep problem of their unrealistic portrayal. A recognition of the practicality and importance of these fourth millennium BC ships to the founding of Egypt and its extensive Mediterranean trade will only be brought into focus by deciphering these distorted images and in the process of inspection, other clues will be found as to the prowess of these early navigators.
Compelling evidence to support a novel view of how these boats should be seen comes from peculiarities noted by documentors of ship petroglyphs north of Aswan, which the authors have stylistically dated to a similar era  to the Gerzean pots. In proposing a solution this paper complements ‘The prehistoric navigation compass and seaworthy ships of the fifth to second millennium BC’ (Hill 2014) and will prepare the ground for papers about the  founding of  the Copper Age in Britain and Ireland in the third millennium BC and The Clodgy Moor Boat Slate whose prehistoric creator has directed this floruit of documents.

This paper is a preliminary presentation of parts of the "Journal of Merer", found amongst the Wadi el-Jarf papyri. It is the log of a team of sailors in charge of bringing limestone blocks from the carreers of Tura to the great pyramid of Khufu at the end of the reign. Some of the conclusions presented here have been modified in a monography about those papyri of Merer, which is on print at the IFAO, that will appear shortly.

Evidence for Ancient Egyptian boatbuilding during the Late Period (664-332 BC) is very scarce and thus the description of Herodotus (“Histories” II.96, c.450 BC) of the local Egyptian boat called “baris” is of great interest. Different translations of this fragment caused much debate. Excavations by the European Institute of Underwater Archaeology in Egypt allowed locating over sixty shipwrecks in the harbour area and channels of the submerged city of Thonis-Heracleion and at least eighteen of them are dated to the Late Period. The construction of shipwreck 17 has been studied during three excavation seasons (2009-2011) and it shows many parallels with the description of Herodotus. This ressemblance starts with the construction material and continues with both longitudinal and transversal structure of the ship as well as with its steering and propulsion system. Shipwreck 17 provides new data that allows not only to consider in detail the construction of this ship but also to propose some general conclusions on the constructional principles and methods characteristic to the Late Period many of which remain unique to the Ancient Egyptian boatbuilding tradition. A three-dimensional modeling of this ship gives an opportunity to make an estimate of its technical characteristics.

Seals of Dilmun type from Bahrain and Failaka island (Kuwait) in 18 cases have depictions of boats. Contrary to previous studies, it is argued here that these vessels represent a distinct class of single-masted sail boats and further that this boat type probably is synonymous with the “Dilmun boats” mentioned in Babylonian textual sources as a specific long-distance vessel type native to Dilmun. The prow of the Dilmun boats typically exhibit a characteristic “figurehead” with two horns, large jaws and two forward-projecting “prongs”. Based on comparatively similar looking serpent/dragon representations in Dilmun’s glyptic art and the mythological information that can be understood from the scene in which they appear, the horned figureheads of the Dilmun boats are identified as a possible Dilmunite goddess of the primordial sea, somehow comparable to the Babylonian Tiamat. Following analysis of this serpent/dragon on the seals, it is argued that there existed a Dilmunite version of the near omnipresent conflict myth. This myth and its distinct topos are discussed, and it is concluded that in Dilmun it played a role in royal ideology and the legitimisation of kingship.

This paper is one of eleven articles in the series “Mastering Postal History” that describe how envelopes and other postal artifacts can be used as original source documents for researching the humanities and the social sciences.

Seafaring vessels have been around for a very, very long time. Would you believe they have been around longer than human beings? Homo sapiens showed up about 125,000 years ago, but another part of the family, Homo erectus, evolved over a million years ago. They wandered northward and eastward over the land masses connected to Africa until they bumped into the Pacific Ocean. It would appear Homo erectus wasn’t big on long distance swimming. So somewhere between 800,000 and 900,000 years ago, one of them decided to build the first boat. The island of Flores is located off the coast of southeast Asia between Java and Australia. And that is where evidence was found confirming when and where our ancient ancestors invented the boat.

While there is much more to ship mail postal history than routes, this article is devoted to researching seaborne routes. From a postal history standpoint, knowing the route will facilitate determining both the means of transport and the applicable rate(s).

The very first transatlantic letter was carried by Christopher Columbus on his initial trip to the New World. It was sent by the Catholic Monarchs to the King of Cipango (Japan), where it was believed Columbus would reach. Mail has been an important part of ship travel ever since that time. Throughout history, monarchs have recognized the importance of postal systems to controlling their empires. Indeed, as colonial empires spread worldwide, ship mail became an integral component of imperial ambitions.

The burgeoning of the British colonies in North America, including the West Indies, was accompanied by growing commercial intercourse across the North Atlantic. It is worth noting that one of the most useful research sources for understanding the evolution of ship mail is to consult histories of British postal regulations as well as those of other nations.

There are several lessons to be learned from studying ship routes. But I believe the major takeaway is that from the earliest times of maritime mail, separate systems worked remarkably well in ensuring that the posts moved expeditiously from start to finish.

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The article gives preliminary information on the shipwrecks of the submerged Egyptian city of Heracleion-Thonis excavated by the European Institute of Underwater Archaeology (IEASM). Underwater surveys started in 1996 in the Bay of Abukir allowed determining the outline of the submerged Canopic region, the circumstances and chronology of its submersion. From the 8th century B.C.E., this town was the custom and border post, and the emporion which controlled access to the Canopic channel, traded with the Greek regions and supervised foreign ships. More than sixty ships dating from the 6th to the 2nd centuries B.C.E. were discovered in the port regions and in the canals of the city bringing evidence on the intense maritime and fluvial activity in this coastal region. Initial analysis of the distribution of the ships of Heracleion-Thonis and some observations on their constructional peculiarities and on the choice of the building material is proposed. Ship 17 of Heracleion-Thonis is the first vessel to be excavated and is thoroughly analysed in the PhD thesis of A.Belov entitled ‘Studies of the Egyptian naval architecture of the Late Period. New archaeological evidence and an attempt at a 3D reconstruction’, which will be examined at the University of Bordeaux in autumn 2013. The ship shows many similarities with the description by Herodotus of the Egyptian river-going ship ‘baris’ (Histories, 2.96, c.450 BC).