A Maritime Archaeology of Ships: Innovation and Social Change in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe - Softcover

Adams, J. R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1842172972 ISBN 13: 9781842172971

Publisher: Oxbow Books, 2013

Synopsis

In the last fifty years the investigation of maritime archaeological sites in the sea, in the coastal zone and in their interconnecting locales, has emerged as one of archaeology's most dynamic and fast developing fields. No longer a niche interest, maritime archaeology is recognised as having central relevance in the integrated study of the human past. Within maritime archaeology the study of watercraft has been understandably prominent and yet their potential is far from exhausted. In this book Jon Adams evaluates key episodes of technical change in the ways that ships were conceived, designed, built, used and disposed of. As technological puzzles they have long confounded explanation but when viewed in the context of the societies in which they were created, mysteries begin to dissolve. Shipbuilding is social practice and as one of the most complex artefacts made, changes in their technology provide a lens through which to view the ideologies, strategies and agency of social change. Adams argues that the harnessing of shipbuilding was one of the ways in which medieval society became modern and, while the primary case studies are historical, he also demonstrates that the relationships between ships and society have key implications for our understanding of prehistory in which seafaring and communication had similarly profound effects on the tide of human affairs.

About this title

Review:

Adams possesses an enviable knowledge of ships and maritime archeology and he discusses technical issues in a lucid manner.--Anthony J. Papalas, East Carolina University "The Medieval Review, 15.09.15 "

Synopsis:

Change is a central concern of archaeology, being imprinted on and variously visible in the material culture of the past. For changes in the ways that people conceived, created and socialised their material world correlate on various levels with changes in their society. This book analyses that dynamic through the lens of technology and innovation in shipping, one of the most sophisticated forms of material expression that many societies achieved. The complexity of watercraft as artefacts reflects need, aspiration and agency in perhaps more explicit ways than almost any other form of material culture.Inherent in their being as objects is a powerful symbolic profile finding expression in identity, as metaphor, as interface between alternate states of existence and in cosmology. Small wonder they are such a powerful medium for investigating materiality in general as well as the changes so important for our understanding of past societies. Until recently it is debatable how far we have capitalised on these qualities, tending to analyse ships as technological phenomena per se rather than relating them to the contexts of their production.

This has produced a database of impressive richness but while it constitutes an eloquent record of changes that occurred, it does not explain them.Worse, it is punctuated with a series of enduring puzzles that have long defied explanation. But might these be solved if investigated together with the social contexts in which they were generated? Using recent, underwater archaeological discoveries, this book examines episodes of major technological change stemming from Europe's most significant social transformation of the last millennium, the transition from medieval to modern. The explanatory relationships that emerge not only reaffirm the central role of ships in the development of the modern world but suggest that the boat record is a potent yet under-exploited way of investigating prehistory.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1842172972
• ISBN 13: 9781842172971
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 272