Mediterranean Connections - Maritime Transport Containers and Seaborne Trade in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages

Mediterranean Connections focuses on the origin and development of maritime transport containers from the Early Bronze through early Iron Age periods (ca. 3200-700 BC).This broad study presents these vessels as central to understanding interregional connectivity and trade in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean, and also considers the role that shipwrecks, seafaring, and coastal communities played in interaction and exchange. Classical and Near Eastern archaeologists and historians, as well as maritime archaeologists, will find this extensively researched volume an important addition to their library.

List of contents

1. Introduction
2. Maritime Matters: Shipwrecks and Harbours
3. Connectivity, Seaborne Trade and Maritime Transport Containers
4. Maritime Transport Containers
5. Discussion: Maritime Transport Containers, Bulk Transport and Mediterranean Trade
6. Conclusions: MTCs and Mediterranean Connectivity
Appendix: Volumetric Analysis and Capacity Measurements of Selected MTCs

About the author

A. Bernard Knapp is Emeritus Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Glasgow, and Honorary Research Fellow at the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute. He co-edits the Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology with John F. Cherry and Peter van Dommelen and is the general editor of the series Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology. He is the author and editor of several books including, most recently, The Archaeology of Cyprus: From Earliest Prehistory through the Bronze Age (2013), and The Cambridge Prehistory of the Bronze-Iron Age Mediterranean (2014), co-edited with Peter van Dommelen. Stella Demesticha is Associate Professor of Maritime Archaeology in the Archaeological Research Unit, Department of History and Archaeology, University of Cyprus. She specializes in maritime archaeology, with special interests in shipwreck amphorae, ancient seaborne trade routes and economy in the Eastern Mediterranean. Over the past 20 years, she has participated in many land and underwater archaeological projects in Greece and Cyprus. In 2011 she established the Maritime Archaeological Research Laboratory (MARELab) in the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus. She currently directs three ongoing underwater field projects (the Mazotos and the Nissia Shipwreck Projects and the Xylophagou Anchorage Project), and coordinates all MARELab research programmes. Her most recent publication is an edited volume: Per Terram, Per Mare: Seaborne Trade and the Distribution of Roman Amphorae in the Mediterranean (2015). Robert Martin is in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto. Catherine E. Pratt is in the Department of Classical Studies, University of Western Ontario.

Summary

Mediterranean Connections focuses on the origin and development of maritime transport containers from the Early Bronze through early Iron Age periods (ca. 3200–700 BC). Analysis of this category of objects broadens our understanding of ancient Mediterranean interregional connections, including the role that shipwrecks, seafaring, and coastal communities played in interaction and exchange. These containers have often been the subject of specific and detailed pottery studies, but have seldom been examined in the context of connectivity and trade in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.
This broad study:

• considers the likely origins of these types of vessels;


• traces their development and spread throughout the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean as archetypal organic bulk cargo containers;


• discusses the wider impact on Mediterranean connections, transport and trade over a period of 2,500 years covering the Bronze and early Iron Ages.

Classical and Near Eastern archaeologists and historians, as well as maritime archaeologists, will find this extensively researched volume an important addition to their library.

Additional text

“A wide-ranging and stimulating survey of maritime exchange in the eastern Mediterranean from [ca. 3200-700 BC] as viewed comparatively through the lens of regionally specific bulk transport containers.” - Jeremy B. Rutter, Dartmouth College
“This book tackles a crucial formative stage in a longer Mediterranean transport container tradition and does so in unprecedented detail and with a clear eye for its wider ramifications, with regard both to regional economic traditions and the overall dynamics of eastern Mediterranean trade. Famous markers of Bronze Age transport such as the Canaanite jar take their place alongside a host of other, hitherto poorly understood, Bronze and early Iron Age cousins. The overall result constitutes a significant move forward in our understanding, with a blend of both detail and overview that will ensure it remains enduringly useful and interesting." - Andrew Bevan, Institute of Archaeology, University College London
"Without a doubt, the book is an important reference work for maritime archaeologists interested in early trade networks as well as Classical and Near Eastern archaeologists." - Michaela Reinfeld, German Archaeological Institute, Berlin

Product details

• Authors: Stella Demesticha, Stella (University of Cyprus Demesticha, A. Knapp, A. Bernard Knapp, A. Bernard (University of Glasgow Knapp, Arthur Bernard Knapp
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.08.2016
• EAN: 9781629583549
• ISBN: 978-1-62958-354-9
• No. of pages: 264
• Weight: 657 g
• Illustrations: Farb., s/w. Abb.
• Series: 3D Photorealistic Rendering; 3D Photorealistic Rendering
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Antiquity; Social sciences, law, business > Business > Individual industrial sectors, branches