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Denizcilik Arkeolojisi Dergisi Maritime Archaeology Periodical

rchaeological surveys carried out in the Aege- skeptical when it comes to seafaring prior to the rise of
an and Eastern Mediterranean regions in recent Homo sapiens, and they tend to explain the evidence of
Ayears have provided compelling evidence of seafaring activities from the Lower and Middle Paleo-
seafaring activities of prehistoric societies. Contrary to lithic Ages by unconscious factors such as “chance”,
the previous assumptions on the subject, it has now been “coincidence” or “drifting”.
recognized that early prehistoric societies had extensive This paper attempts to evaluate the nature, purpose,
maritime knowledge. What we call seafaring culture, in and intensity of seafaring activities in pre-historic soci-
fact, requires a wide range of cultural background such eties in the Eastern Mediterranean region, mainly based
as navigation techniques, knowledge gained from expe- on the new archaeological evidence from the Aegean
rience with wind and current directions, technological Sea and Cyprus (Fig. 1 and 2).
capacities, and engineering practices. Even under the
most favorable weather conditions, any sailing activity DID SeAFArInG eXISt beFOre HOmO SAPIenS?
has always been life-threatening. Despite the risks, we It is still highly contested whether or not commu-
recognize that people have been sailing throughout the nities of H. erectus, H. heidelbergensis and H. ne-
ages, sometimes due to necessity, and sometimes be- anderthalensis had conscious seafaring activities
cause of their curiosity and ambition. or developed technologies to produce marine craft
John Cherry’s seminal article of 1990 on the coloni- during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic Periods.
zation of the Mediterranean islands suggests evidence Some researchers believe pre-Homo sapiens species
of seafaring activity in the Mediterranean and Aege- were not capable of seafaring activities (particularly
an Seas demonstrates dates not earlier than the Early of devising a water craft) . Instead, they alternative-
3
Neolithic Age, except for large islands like Cyprus, and ly argue that seafaring activities during the Lower
that many islands in the Aegean Sea inhabited only by and Middle Paleolithic Ages might have occurred
5000-4000 B.C . Although the colonization model de- by simple and unplanned mechanisms that are ob-
1
veloped by Cherry based on the biogeography of the served in other plants and animals; such as drifting
islands still maintains its validity in general, new data by holding onto some floating vegetation rafts. It has
require reconsideration of the first access to some is- been proposed that it should have been possible to
2
lands and their colonizations . In his book “The Making steer vehicles used as a raft with a simple stick while
of the Middle Sea” of 2013, which was also translated drifting.
into Turkish, Cyprian Broodbank inherited Cherry’s On the other hand, researchers who oppose the pre-
perspective, and refined it with new available data. vious idea suggest that based on the remains dating
Although there is still skepticism about the early ev- back to 800 000 years ago, such as the stone tools
idence from the Lower and Middle Paleolithic Ages, finds in the Flores Island in Indonesia, H. erectus in-
a growing number of studies indicate prehistoric so- tentionally expanded to the Pacific islands, and they
cieties had an advanced level of contact with the sea, were able to build simple watercrafts for 20 to 30 km
particularly those that lived near indented shores and voyages in deep straits even during the Pleistocene .
4
islands, such as the Aegean Sea. On the other hand, it is Did H. erectus possess the cognitive structure and
important to note that researchers are still cautious and capacity sufficient to build watercraft?

1 CHERRY 1990.
2 DAWSON 2011.
3 BROODBANK 2013, 107.
4 BEDNARIK 2003.

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