Authors: S. Vitale, A. Querci

Download article as .pdf: Ships, Routes, and Connectivity: Seafaring Technology and the Making of the Early Late Bronze Age Aegean

The early Late Bronze Age (LBA) Aegean was a phase of intense interactions, typified by the widespread distribution of Cretan cultural diacritics across the eastern Mediterranean. In the last decades, this Minoanized “New Cultural Environment” was extensively analyzed using the lenses of human mobility and network theory. Taking a different approach, in this contribution we discuss the importance of ships and harbors as decisive factors for the circulation of things, goods, and ideas. To do so, we focus on a case study regarding interregional connections between Crete and the Southeast Aegean-Southwest Coastal Anatolian Region (SASCAR). In the firQuerst part of our paper, we briefly review the distribution of Minoan and Minoanizing cultural diacritics in the SASCAR. In the second and the third parts, based on recent research about the so-called “SASCAR String”, we discuss early LBA Aegean seafaring technology, considering such factors as the directionality, duration, and seasonality of ancient sailing. In the fourth part, we explain how sea routes connected Crete with major early LBA hubs in the SASCAR, namely Ialysos on Rhodes, the “Serraglio” and Ayios Panteleimon on Kos, and Miletus on the west coast of Anatolia. In the fifth and final part, we provide some concluding remarks about the relevance of ancient seafaring technology for our understanding of connectivity and cultural entanglements in the early LBA Aegean.