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TINA

Maritime Archaeology Periodical

COnCLUSIOn: MaRInE RESOURCE ExPLOItatIOn aS a Translating these stories into archaeological think-
SmALL mOVement OF HIStOrY ing, one might conclude that cultural contacts could
Fishing and shellfish gathering activities and their have occurred at common fisheries exploited by sev-
offshoots entail different types of engagement with eral communities in the middle of the sea. Fishermen
who drifted off-course, a common occurrence, likely
the sea, contributing to the improvement of naviga- created a sporadic and spontaneous mechanism of
tional techniques, fishing technology, preservation connectivity. Unexplored lands and islands, new raw
methods, and connectivity in general. Communities materials, as well as novel social and economic con-
that continually fished in the Aegean would have tacts were likely discovered by such accidents and
been the major contributors to the development of misfortunes.
boat building and navigation technologies. Perhaps One must conclude that marine exploitation was
not surprisingly, fishing communities’ skills in the likely never the locomotive of historical develop-
“arts of sailing and ship-building” are acknowledged ment, nor the main drive for societies to become more
in ethnographic accounts . The targeting of diverse complex. rather, we see fishing and shellfish gather-
100
fish and shellfish with varying sizes, behaviour, and ing as year-round, mundane, small-scale, and inshore
habitat, would have encouraged experimenting with activities in which most age and all gender groups
and developing specialized technologies. Fishermen were taking part. Fishing and any marine resource
from neighbouring areas would also have had an exploitation, for that matter, were likely not dictating
opportunity to contact each other at common fishing the daily life of prehistoric Aegean communities; but
grounds. Muammer Can, an old fisherman whom fishing was a great way to diversify the food supply.
we interviewed in August 2015, told us that in the Fishing also provided a source of food that was avail-
early 1980’s, he would meet Greek fishermen in the able during times of scarcity and perhaps an occasion
Lesbos Strait (Müsellim Geçidi) where they chat- to gain some prestige or spend recreational time. The
ted, although they spoke little of each other’s lan- importance of fishing is unlikely to originate from its
guage, and gave gifts to each other. He would offer influence on “big movements of history,” as Braudel
aubergines, tomatoes, and green peppers from his puts it, but rather from its ability to build perpetual
garden and received in return a small bottle of ouzo. micro-scale networks of groups of different ages, gen-
Sometimes, if one of the fishermen did not have luck der, and status . These social networks provided the
101
during the expedition, they would share their harvest. foundations for cultural interaction and transmission.
There are also stories of fishermen who were carried These “little movements of history” would have com-
to the coast of Lesbos after a storm, where they were prised the underlying mechanism governing social
hosted for 1-2 days and then returned to Turkey. history in the prehistoric Aegean.

98 SIAr 2003, 573.
99 SIAr 2003, 575.
100 MALINOWSKI 1984, 121.
101 BrAUDEL 1972.

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