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Authors: Lincoln Paine
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Mediterranean, where the sail was known by at least the third millennium BCE . Cultural or sociopolitical explanations are likewise inadequate.Mesoamerica produced an unbroken succession of refined states from theOlmecs to the Aztecs, none of which exploited its proximity to the sea to any significant degree. As the example ofOceania shows, populous, centralized states endowed with abundant resources for shipbuilding and trade are not prerequisites for putting to sea. Pacific islanders were never as numerous as their contemporaries in Eurasia or the Americas, yet they ranged farther across the sea than anyone else. But maritime history is seldom susceptible to overarching theories. No less puzzling is the fact that the most comprehensive body of archaeological, written, and artistic evidence for the development of maritime enterprise in the ancient world comes from Egypt, a land associated more with sand than seafaring.
a The suffix
-nesia
comes from the Greek word for island,
neisos.
Melanesia means black islands (for the relative color of the inhabitants’ skin); Micronesia, small islands; and Polynesia, many islands.
b Austronesian (literally, “southern islands”) is a language family whose speakers are found across the islands of, and parts of mainland, Southeast Asia, in Oceania, and, to the west, on the island ofMadagascar.
c The Greater Antilles include the large islands ofJamaica, Cuba,Hispaniola, andPuerto Rico. The southward arc of the Lesser Antilles is divided into the northerly Leeward Islands, from the Virgin Islands toDominica, and the southerlyWindward Islands, fromMartinique to Grenada.
d A wherry is a light rowing boat for carrying passengers and freight.
Chapter 2
----
The River and Seas of Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt emerged as a regional power of enormous vigor five thousand years ago. Written, artistic, and archaeological finds make it clear that waterborne transportation was its people’s lifeline, and their intimate association with boats and ships permeated every aspect of their lives, from their conception of the afterlife and the voyage of the sun across the sky, to the ways they organized themselves for work and how they envisioned the state. The region’s arid climate should not blind us to the Egyptians’ profound reliance on river and sea trade for political stability, domestic tranquility, and intercourse with distant people via the Mediterranean and the Red Seas. The last thousand kilometers of the Nile betweenAswan and the Mediterranean were a cradle of maritime enterprise on which innumerable vessels moved people and goods, including thousand-ton stone blocks shipped hundreds of kilometers from quarries to the sites ofpyramids and other monuments. By 2600 BCE , mariners routinely sailed to the Levant forbulk cargoes of cedar and other goods, and Egyptians also took to the Red Sea in search of incense, precious metals, exotic animals, and other marvels from the land ofPunt. In the twelfth century BCE , the sea-lanes of the Mediterranean proved for the first time a double-edged sword as stateless raiders swept across the ancient Near East and precipitated the end of theNew Kingdom. In the meantime, the Egyptians’ embrace of sea trade had brought them into sustained communication with the leading powers ofMesopotamia and Asia Minor, and helped initiate sustained long-distance voyaging in the eastern Mediterranean.
A Ship in the Desert, 2500 BCE
In the spring of 1954, employees of theEgyptian Antiquities Service were removing debris from around the base of the Great Pyramid atGiza. The effort was a routine bit of housekeeping and there was little expectation of uncovering anything of significance in a place that had been worked over by tomb robbers, treasure seekers, and archaeologists for forty-five hundred years. As they cleared the rubble, workers came across the remains of the southern boundary wall. This was hardly extraordinary; boundary walls had been identified on the
a The suffix
-nesia
comes from the Greek word for island,
neisos.
Melanesia means black islands (for the relative color of the inhabitants’ skin); Micronesia, small islands; and Polynesia, many islands.
b Austronesian (literally, “southern islands”) is a language family whose speakers are found across the islands of, and parts of mainland, Southeast Asia, in Oceania, and, to the west, on the island ofMadagascar.
c The Greater Antilles include the large islands ofJamaica, Cuba,Hispaniola, andPuerto Rico. The southward arc of the Lesser Antilles is divided into the northerly Leeward Islands, from the Virgin Islands toDominica, and the southerlyWindward Islands, fromMartinique to Grenada.
d A wherry is a light rowing boat for carrying passengers and freight.
Chapter 2
----
The River and Seas of Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt emerged as a regional power of enormous vigor five thousand years ago. Written, artistic, and archaeological finds make it clear that waterborne transportation was its people’s lifeline, and their intimate association with boats and ships permeated every aspect of their lives, from their conception of the afterlife and the voyage of the sun across the sky, to the ways they organized themselves for work and how they envisioned the state. The region’s arid climate should not blind us to the Egyptians’ profound reliance on river and sea trade for political stability, domestic tranquility, and intercourse with distant people via the Mediterranean and the Red Seas. The last thousand kilometers of the Nile betweenAswan and the Mediterranean were a cradle of maritime enterprise on which innumerable vessels moved people and goods, including thousand-ton stone blocks shipped hundreds of kilometers from quarries to the sites ofpyramids and other monuments. By 2600 BCE , mariners routinely sailed to the Levant forbulk cargoes of cedar and other goods, and Egyptians also took to the Red Sea in search of incense, precious metals, exotic animals, and other marvels from the land ofPunt. In the twelfth century BCE , the sea-lanes of the Mediterranean proved for the first time a double-edged sword as stateless raiders swept across the ancient Near East and precipitated the end of theNew Kingdom. In the meantime, the Egyptians’ embrace of sea trade had brought them into sustained communication with the leading powers ofMesopotamia and Asia Minor, and helped initiate sustained long-distance voyaging in the eastern Mediterranean.
A Ship in the Desert, 2500 BCE
In the spring of 1954, employees of theEgyptian Antiquities Service were removing debris from around the base of the Great Pyramid atGiza. The effort was a routine bit of housekeeping and there was little expectation of uncovering anything of significance in a place that had been worked over by tomb robbers, treasure seekers, and archaeologists for forty-five hundred years. As they cleared the rubble, workers came across the remains of the southern boundary wall. This was hardly extraordinary; boundary walls had been identified on the
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