North Sea archaeologies : a maritime biography, 10,000 BC-AD 1500 / by Robert Van de Noort.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Van de Noort, Robert.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Underwater archaeology--North Sea.

Underwater archaeology.

Antiquities, Prehistoric--North Sea.

Antiquities, Prehistoric.

Physical Description:

x, 282 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2010.

Summary:

While other archaeological studies have viewed the Sea from the land, North Sea Archaeologies places a sea centre stage. In this innovative study, Robert Van de Noort explores past human relationships with seas and oceans from an archaeological perspective, using the North Sea as a case study.

Van de Noort traces the way people engaged with the North Sea from the end of the last ice age, around 10,000 BC, to the close of the Middle Ages, about AD 1500, drawing upon archaeological research from many countries, including the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, and France. He addresses topics which include the first interactions of people with the emerging North Sea, the origin and development of fishing, the creation of coastal landscapes, the importance of islands and archipelagos, the development of seafaring ships and their use by early seafarers and pirates, and the treatments of boats and ships at the end of their useful lives.

North Sea Archaeologies offers a 'maritime turn' in its discipline through the investigation of aspects of human behaviour that have been, to various extents, disregarded, overlooked, or ignored in archaeological studies of the land. Van de Noort concludes that the relationship between humans and the sea challenges the frequently invoked dichotomy between pre-modernity and modernity, since many ancient beliefs, superstitions, skills, and practices linked to seafaring and engagement with the sea are still widespread in the modern era. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction: the sea is 'good to think' 1

2 An archaeological theory of the sea 21

3 The sea as a dynamic and hybrid landscape 44

4 Fish: exploring the sea as a taskscape 72

5 Socializing coastal landscapes 98

6 Archipelagos and islands 125

7 Moving across the North Sea 146

8 The daily practice of seafaring: the ship as heterotopia par excellence 178

9 The cultural biographies of boats 201

10 Conclusions: a maritime biography 228.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199566204

0199566208

OCLC:

653082403