History: Minoan Mariners

Over at the always interesting Nature website Jo Marchant took a good deal of time to discuss in depth the modern race to find Bronze Age shipwrecks. The ongoing search for deep water wreckage that once called the now Greek island of Crete home is fascinating in the extreme. It points up not only the need to find out more about the pre-Hellenic civilization of that island but also the mind-bogglingly high tech ways that marine archaeology is going about the search.


The article focuses on two experts in marine artifact finding, Robert Ballard whose team discovered the wreck of the Titanic in 1985 and his former graduate student, Brendan Foley. Both men are turning to deeper and deeper wasters, with the help of such futuristic marvels as remote operated vehicles and autonomous diving robots, in the hope of finding several Minoan wrecks and learning more about these amazing deep-sea mariners.

Two decades ago it was a commonly held belief that Minoans in particular and Bronze Age mariners in general hugged the coasts of the Mediterranean and Aegean with their ships. All that changed with the discovery of a wreck now known as the Ulu Burun or Uluburun off the coast of Turkey. The wreck was found some five miles off the coast. Though this is not a tremendous way from shore, the area and situation in which the wreck was found – and the amazing treasure trove she carried – got archaeologists thinking.

The Uluburun was literally packed to the gunnels with wealth from cultures all over the Mediterranean. There were spices, cloth, weapons, ebony and ostrich eggs among other things. A vast horde of jewelry was aboard as well, much of it from the expert goldsmiths of Ancient Egypt. One gold scarab bore the name of Queen Nefertiti. In all eleven different cultures were represented in the cargo aboard Uluburun. You can see some of these beautiful artifacts here.

This may all sound like nothing more than pirate booty – and in fact trawling for artifacts in the Aegean is big business – but there is a deeper significance. Through wrecks like the Uluburun, modern science begins to understand the economies and movements of ancient cultures, shedding light on where we came from. As Foley notes in the piece from Nature, “Ships were the way that people communicated and moved about the ancient world. So if we can find these ancient wrecks, we get a much clearer view of the very dim past.”

As a very wise man once said, history is a vast early warning system and forewarned if forearmed. The more attention we can pay to our rich seafaring history, the better off we will all be.

Header: Minoan vessels at sea; 16th c BCE wall mural from the island of Santorini via Nature.com

History: New Finds Tell New Stories

For archaeologists studying maritime history, the lack of extant artifacts can be a massive frustration. Most of what our ancestors’ ships were made of – wood, rope, canvas and so on – was destined to deteriorate and disappear. Although an abundance of ship remains from the early modern era forward do exist, it is a rare thing to find a pre-modern or ancient ship in tact. Besides cargo in the form of things like pottery and metal, one vestige of almost any ship that can be relied on to stand the test of time is its anchor.


Two recent finds in the Middle East have proven that fact once again.

First, off the coast of Israel at the resort town of Bat Yam, lifeguards on the beach found three very old, encrusted anchors submerged in clear, shallow waters not far from where locals and tourists regularly frolic in the Mediterranean. According to this article at English News online, the anchors are similar in shape and size, approximately 300 kg (660 lbs) and 2 meters (6 and a half feet) tall, and between 1,700 and 1,400 years old. The lifeguards reported their find to the Israeli Antiquities Authority who immediately, and no doubt thankfully, recovered them for study. As the article notes, the area is full of ancient artifacts which are often appropriated by those who find them rather than being turned over to authorities.

IAA archaeologist Dror Felner speculated that a port may have existed near modern Bat Yam in Byzantine times, which until now was unknown. He points up another possibility very familiar to sailors: a vessel may have anchored in an uninhabited harbor when faced with dirty weather, hoping to ride out a storm. The fact that the ancient port of Jaffa was not far from the location where the anchors were found certainly makes either theory plausible.

Next, this piece at Novinite.com gives a short but tantalizing summation of an interesting find in the Black Sea. Off the coast of Sozopol, Bulgaria marine archaeologists found “beautifully ornamented” stone anchors. The anchors have two holes which, according to the article, were drilled for the anchor rope and a wooden stick. The importance of the stick is not mentioned but one imagines it was put in place either to catch hold of the sea floor or to aid in retrieving the anchor from the water, or both.

The anchors are 200 kg (440 lbs) and the article says they were:

… used for 150-200-ton ships that transported mainly wheat, but also dried and salted fish, skins, timber and metals from what now is Bulgaria’s coast.

Current speculation about the origin of the anchors is really the interesting part of this story, aside from their design of course. According to the piece the anchors appear to be “Creto-Mycanaean, Phoenician or Carian” and date to between the 15th and 12th centuries BCE. In what seems a significant leap of scholarly faith, the article goes on to say:

The anchors are also said to show that the Trojan war may have started because of excise duties imposed by the Trojans, who took advantage of their control over the Dardanelles – and not because of Helen of Troj [sic].

Who actually posited this theory is not revealed in the article, but it is certainly something for those with an historical appetite to chew on. As so many who study mute testaments to our collective history have imagined about a million little pieces of past lives, if only these anchors could talk.

Header: Black Sea anchor via sott.net

History: More Evolutionary Seafaring

About a year ago I wrote about an amazing, seafaring find on the Greek island of Crete. In that post I discussed the possibility of people in some form of seafaring craft landing on the island as long as 130,000 years ago. At the time, this seemed almost miraculous. The anthropologist in me fairly sang. You see, she wanted to say; our ancestors weren’t knuckle dragging grub eaters. They made tools and boats and sailed away to parts unknown, a feat as brave as any in history. I shouldn’t have gotten so excited.

Not until now that is. According to this Associated Press article, an archaeological team made up of professionals from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the Greek Culture Ministry has found tools, including axes, which appear to be between 130,000 and 700,000 years old. The tools were found on the southern side of the island in cave overhangs and rock shelters near the village of Plakias.

Putting the numbers into perspective, accepted anthropological thought states that humans, most probably in the form of Homo Erectus, walked out of Africa across existing land bridges to the Middle East. From there they split off, some heading for Asia, others for Europe. While this migration certainly began to take place before the earliest possible date of the tools found on Crete, even the most debated theories of sea travel don’t start their postulation for people afloat in their own craft prior to 60,000 years ago. However, since Crete has been an island for roughly five million years, it looks like a few perceptions might need to change.

Judging from the dating of the tools, the archaeologists speculate that the very early mariners on Crete were either Homo Erectus or possibly Heidelberg Man, an artist’s rendering of whom is shown at the header. Both early human groups were good with tools but, until actual human fossils are found, it’s all speculation. What isn’t speculation is that tools from a much earlier date than anyone thought possible have been found on an island that was at least forty miles from any shore at that time. Unless our hominid ancestors merrily flew around with jet packs strapped to their probably hairy backs, that’s pretty good evidence for sailors.

According to the article, the combined archaeological team has applied to the Greek authorities for permission to excavate in the areas where the tools were found. They hope to have a positive response later this year. With luck, perhaps we’ll know more – maybe even a lot more – by this time next year. For now it seems safe to say that humans are natural explores and that where ever they have met water, someone spoke up and said: “I know, let’s build a boat and see what’s on the other side.” Or something to that effect.

Header: Heidelberg Man via bartleby.com

History: Minoan Shipwreck

The January/February addition of Archaeology magazine, in print and online, featured a fascinating article about the excavation of the first Minoan shipwreck ever found.

The Minoan culture existed on the Greek island of Crete from approximately 2,700 to 1,450 BCE. Named for their first ruler, Minos, the Minoans flourished as sea traders, sometime sea raiders, and fishermen. Minos (there were probably several kings with that name and in fact there is some debate that it may be a title like "Pharaoh" and not a proper name) was known as the "master of the seas" according to the article. It also notes that he rid the waters around his kingdom of pirates which is ironic given his people's propensity for freebooting. But all we had until now was contemporary artwork (like the mural above depicting Minoan ships off the island of Thera) to give us an idea of what these mighty sea peoples transports must have looked like.

Enter archaeologist Elpida Hadjidaki, a local gal from the Cretan port town of Chania. Elpida is also an experienced diver and in 2003 she received a grant from the Institute of Aegean Prehistory to begin an intensive reconnaissance for ancient ships off her native island.

As so often happens in these situations, her team turned up nothing. At least not what they were looking for. Frustrated and running out of time, Elpida decided to go on a hunch. She headed to a site that had previously been investigated by the famed Jacques Cousteau and started poking around. As luck (which is an archaeologist's best friend) would have it, some likely signs were found just days before Elpida's expedition was set to shut down.

One of Elpida's team was sent on an exploratory dive and within half an hour he returned to the surface with the news that he had found a whole bunch of these: Hundreds of ceramic vessels known as amphora, used generally for holding wine or oil, were packed together in a pattern that would indicate they once rested in the hold of a ship. The team had hit their mark at last and first mapping of the site and then excavation began, expanding as the volume of the find became apparent.

The ship, undoubtedly a merchant vessel, was no longer in existence. Only its contents remained. All the same, Elpida and her team were able to determine that the vessel was between 32 and 50 feet long by the way the amphora were situated. The article notes that the jars were found uniformly upside down. This led the team to believe that the ship capsized. That possibility would also explain the inability to find any of the wooden hull (ship's wood will frequently remain safe from rot when in very cold water or buried in sand).

According to speculations now being made by other experts in Minoan civilization, the ship is probably a fair representation of the merchant vessels of the day. Unlike war and raiding ships, it seems to have lacked oars and would have been powered by wind probably with a single, square-rigged sail. These smaller ships would have been used for short ventures to and from other islands. I would add that they were probably quite vulnerable to pirates, such as the Phoenicians, as well.

The excavation is ongoing, and fascinating. So far upwards of 200 amphora have been brought up with approximately 80 virtually in tact. If you'd like to read the entire article find it here. It's worth your while to click over not only for the details but for the stunning underwater pictures.

History: One, Two, Three

The history of ships and shipping, and therefor pirates and privateering, began with our friends the Sea Peoples. Known now as the Phoenicians, they were the first to build wooden boats, fit them out with sails and a row of oars on each bow, and head out into the blue water of the Mediterranean. Bless them.

Technology is not a modern invention, however, and neither is the improvement of existing technology. Ships, like everything else, improved and each culture that adopted the basic design added their own innovations as time went on.

The original monoreme ship of the Phoenicians, Egyptians and early Greeks was a wonder of technology for it's time. Slim and seaworthy, the ship sat close to the water and could initially carry 10 oarsmen on either side. In the 6th century BCE the Phoenicians added a pointed ram at the bow. This established the way in which the three incarnations of the monoreme would be used. Set the sail and head for the battle, strike the sail and move under the power of oars in battle with the goal being to ram an enemy broadside and then back water, disengaging your ram so the enemy ship would sink.

The ship shown above is not technically a monoreme but is the famous galley of Khufu in the Cairo Museum. This ship is the most intact ancient vessel yet discovered. It does give a good idea of how oars would have been shipped in a monoreme: the long pieces of wood were held in thole pins along the gunwales rather like that little rowboat at the lake. Of course, speed and agility are always necessary whether your goal is sinking an enemy in battle or taking a fat prize. Speed meant adding more oars, but in the monoreme the only way to do that was to lengthen the ship. There goes your agility. The solution was dreamed up around 700 BCE probably by the Phoenicians again but some scholars believe the Greeks were the innovators. The bireme was built with two tiers of oars, one above the other.

The men on the lower tier worked their oars through ports in the ship's side and sat close to the waterline. The men above were on deck, as they had been in the monoreme. This allowed the ship to double it's oarsmen and speed without increasing it's length. Biremes fully manned with 40 oars could reach speeds of 6 to 7 knots. Considering that a pirate sloop during the Golden Age would have averaged 5 knots, that's pretty impressive. Of course the speed could not be sustained for any extended time, but it got the job done when facing an enemy.

Ship builders are never really satisfied, though, and innovations continued into the Classical era. Some time in the 600s BCE the Corinthians struck on a feat of engineering that allowed a third row of oarsmen to be incorporated. The trireme was born.

As you can see from the Greek stamp pictured above, a trireme required an outrigged section of the hull to make seating all the oarsmen and functioning oars feasible. The first and second tier of men would work in the outrigging while the lowest tier would be in the hold proper, sometimes only a foot above the waterline. Greek triremes carried up to 170 oarsmen. Rome went big, as usual, and eventually developed triremes that could carry up to 230 oarsmen along with soldiers, commanders and so on. These ships, when rowed properly, topped out at an amazing 9 to 10 knots in quick bursts.

Trireme construction in Greece followed this general plan. The ship was approximately 120 feet in length. She was 12 feet across at the waterline increasing to 18 feet on the upper deck of oarsmen and by Classical times the ram at her bow had developed three or four prongs instead of the one prong typical on a monoreme. She was a formidable opponent. So formidable, in fact, that it was the Athenian triremes under the command of Themistocles that finally beat back the threat of Persian invasion at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC. Thanks for holding the Hot Gates, Spartans. The seaman will take it from here.

The innovations that led from monoreme to trireme improved seafaring, and particularly naval, capability in the Mediterranean 100 percent in a relatively short span of time. The trireme became the workhorse of sea battle, much like the frigate would in the distant future. It's probably safe to say that without these seafaring innovations by our ancient ancestors, the ships we know today would be quite different indeed.

History: Very Early Seafaring

The Minoan civilization, which blossomed on the now Greek island of Crete from 2,700 to 1,450 BCE, or there abouts, was a maritime culture. Living on an island usually dictates that your people are good in and around boats and so it was with our Minoan ancestors. They excelled at all things nautical. As it turns out, they may very well have been born to it.

Tuesday's New York Times online featured an interesting article by John Noble Wilford entitled On Crete, New Evidence of Very Ancient Mariners. In it, Wilford details the work of art historian Thomas F. Strasser, Providence College, Rhode Island and archaeologist Eleni Panagopoulou, Greek Ministry of Culture, and their teams. They have uncovered evidence of a seafaring culture on the island possibly dating back as far as 130,000 years.

Stone tools have been excavated from the southern shore of the island and include well fashioned arrowheads and even the now iconic double sided hand axes that are so identified with Minoan culture. I studied anthropology in school so let me just cut to the chase here: the finds indicate that a significant culture existed on the island long before anyone ever imagined. Original theories date the first landings of humans from other shores on Greek islands at around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. These new finds potentially blow that theory out of the water (pun intended) and show that humans - possibly even prehumans - were developed enough on Crete to have the time to sit down and make things like double sided axes. In other words they were not a subsistence culture in which the only thing the (usually small) group of hominids has time for is finding, preparing and eating food. They could kick back a little and ratchet up their standard of living with tools.

I hear you, Brethren. OK, Pauline, but what do some stone tools have to do with seafaring? The evidence isn't anchors and fish hooks, after all, it's axes and the like. True, however the point here is that they were found on an island and are incredibly similar to tools made by Acheulean cultures which originated with prehumans in Africa. This means - if the dating and suppositions are accurate - that large groups of prehumans had to get from the mainland to Crete. And that means they had to have some sort of boat building technology. You can't just strap together a raft Bear Grylls style and expect to get your family and the neighbors safely from Africa/Asia Minor/Europe to Crete. Ask Odysseus about the reality of that little undertaking.

Of course there's already argument about time frames and dating and so on. For more on that, and specific details, I encourage you to read the article. My point is that it looks like we may have been out sailing the blue water before we could even be called "Homo sapiens". And that makes may little sailor's heart sing.