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The Phoenicia, built in 2007–2008, is a modern replica of a 600 BC Phoenician merchant ship.
Inspired by ancient shipwreck discoveries near Marseille, the vessel was constructed using traditional methods to recreate the maritime achievements of the Phoenicians—master seafarers who once transported gold from Africa, tin from Britain, and linen from Egypt across the ancient world.
Ancient Seafaring
By listfiles/Kanguole - Own work, based on file:map of Sunda and Sahul.png and usingCoastline from Natural Earth 1:50m Physical Vectors125m depth contour derived from 2-Minute Gridded Global Relief Data (ETOPO2) v2, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, using gdal_contour (from GDAL)., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=127823375
Earliest evidence that hominids took to the sea on boats was from tools and trace evidence left on a rhinoceros skeleton from about 631,000-777,000 years ago, likely to the Philippine island of Luzon, the largest island of the Philippines. At this time, Homo erectus was most likely the voyager. At that time, with the lowered sea levels because of the ice sheets that pushed as far as the 40th parallel in some places, covering maybe 30%, drawing water out of the oceans. While this made it so that many of the islands off of the southern tip of India were joined together, reaching the Philippines would have taken at least a short sea voyage.
It wasn't until about 65,000-53,000 years ago that Homo sapiens crossed what is now known as the Wallace line to reach what is now Australia. The winds at the time would have been favorable for what would have been at least a 55 mile (88 km) journey with no land in sight. Winds would have changed about 58,000 years ago, making the crossing much more unlikely, which points to a single period of colonization of Australia.
By Cat's diary (猫猫的日记本) - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34243737
About 35,000-32,000 years ago was the beginning of maritime trade networks as evidenced by Philippine and Wallacea obsidian appearing one nearby islands, though exactly how people traveled by sea isn't know, whether by rafts or dugout canoes. These trade routes likely began by following the coastlines and moving by between line-of-sight islands.
The earliest evidence of whaling appears around 6000 BCE in Korea. Most likely, the method involved many small boats to cut the whale off from the ocean and herding it to land with noise and perhaps arrows.
By Obsidian Soul - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75764398
Between about 3000 and 1500 BCE, with the use of catamarans, outrigger ships, and tanja or crab claw sails, the Austronesian people began leaving Taiwan and colonizing islands as far reaching as Easter Island and New Zealand to the east and Madagascar in the west. They also supported a trade network that was the precursor of the Maritime Silk Road, which began in the 2nd century BCE. These trade routes gradually began using the monsoon winds, which would blow in one direction for half the year and switch directions in the other half, making it possible for bulk trading and for the Maritime Silk Road to develop. Maritime trade routes grew safer than overland routes due to a lack of bandits, improved navigation technologies, and lack of 'extortionate tolls by local potentiates.'
By Pavljenko - Own work using:Map first shown in Bellwood et al. (2011) and taken from Benton et al. (2012), CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=116424449
Evidence of the spread of Austronesian people is evident in the languages spoken on the many islands they reached. There are many words that are derived from Sri Lankan or south Indian languages, such as the various words for 'ship' including paṭavu, paḍava, padau, folau, halau, and wharau. Austronesian peoples used advanced navigation techniques, using both constellations and the timing of stars rising over the horizon to navigate. There also appears to have been a 2,000 year pause in expansion, to about 700 CE, when the Polynesian people group moved into the Cook Islands, Hawaii, Easter Island, and Aotearoa, New Zealand.
The Chinese began trading with the Austronesian peoples during the Han dynasty (220 BCE-200 CE), calling them 'Strange Things of the South' (Nánzhōu Yìwùzhì — 南州異物志). Despite this, or maybe because of it, they didn't develop their own navy until the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE).
The ancient Egyptian anchor is now on display at an Israeli museum.
Maybe I should start taking morning swims. It would help if I lived on the Mediterranean, I suppose.
Stone ship, called Tjelvar’s grave on the island of Gotland, Sweden, dating from the late Bronze Age (1100-500 BC)
The 13th-century Gutasaga saga about the early history of Gotland tells the story of Tjelvar, a mighty hero who tamed the Baltic island. According to this legend, Gotland was once a living creature, and one not in the mood to let people inhabit it. During the night, it would be like any other island, calm and quiet. But once the sun came up it would violently thrash around and sink underwater, taking any visitors along with it into the depths of the sea.
This process repeated itself for many, many years, until one day, Tjelvar made the risky journey to Gotland using just a small rowing boat. He set foot on the island in the dead of night and started a fire, which cleansed the place of evil and pacified the island. Tjelvar became king of Gotland and is known to history as the first person to ever live on Sweden's largest island.
After his long and happy reign, Tjelvar died an old and content man. He was loved by all and buried in a ship-shaped grave. These stone ship burial sites, also called "ship settings" are found throughout Scandinavia and were usually built during the Viking era starting in the late 8th century. But Tjelevar's Grave on Gotland is unique in that it's more than a thousand years older than most stone ships, dating all the way back to the Nordic Bronze Age. Archeologists have dated the burial monument from between 1100 and 500 BC. In the 1930s, several pots were found inside the ship that contained the burned and crushed remains of the person buried there—whoever they may be.
Amethyst intaglio warship, Roman, 1st century AD
Chalcedony scaraboid gem engraved of a ship (trireme) with steersman, oarsmen and warriors, Greek, ca. 525–500 BC
For the first time in millennia, a Magan Boat sails off the coast of Abu Dhabi. It’s a reconstruction that has taught the world much about the skill and achievements of Bronze Age sailors
Archaeology on Marawah Island, west of Abu Dhabi, has revealed that 8,000 years ago the Arabian coast was home to a sophisticated seafaring people. They built stone structures, herded livestock, fished and dived for pearls, crafted jewelry, and developed a talent for sailing that started a remarkable cultural exchange.
By the Bronze Age, around 4,500 years ago, the region was prominent enough to have a name in ancient writings: Magan. From the island of Umm an-Nar, in modern Abu Dhabi which was part of ancient Magan, merchants sailed an international trade route that connected Mesopotamia, in what is now Iraq, to the Indus Valley in today’s India and Pakistan. Magan traded locally sourced pearls, stone and copper, one of the most sought-after commodities of the time, for ceramics, fabrics, jewelry, and other precious objects. Its ships were renowned through the Arabian Gulf.
The ship was built using 15 tons of locally sourced reeds that were painstakingly prepared by being soaked, stripped of leaves, crushed, and then tied into bundles using rope made from date palm fibers. These formed the hull, to which was attached a wooden frame. The boat’s dimensions were calculated based on what is known about similar vessels as well as hydrostatic analysis of what was needed to make it float. The reed hull was then waterproofed with a coating of bitumen, which was traded from Iraq. The heavy sail, raised purely by muscle without the benefit of pulleys, was crafted of goat’s hair in a patchwork of shades.
The result was the world’s largest ever reconstructed Bronze Age vessel: 60 feet long, capable of carrying 36 tons of cargo, and achieving surprisingly high speeds of 5.6 knots.
An anchor (in situ, 1932) from one of the two large ancient ships built by Emperor Caligula during his reign (37-41 AD) in honour of the goddess Diana. They were recovered in 1929 and 1932 from Lake Nemi, the crater lake of an extinct volcano, 27 km southeast of Rome. In 1944 they were destroyed by fire.
