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On the Ocean: The Mediterranean and the Atlantic from prehistory to AD 1500
For humans the sea is, and always has been, an alien environment. Ever moving and ever changing in mood, it is a place without time, in contrast to the land which is fixed and scarred by human activity giving it a visible history. While the land is familiar, even reassuring, the sea is unknown and threatening. By taking to the sea humans put themselves at its mercy. It has often been perceived to be an alien power teasing and cajoling. The sea may give but it takes.
Why, then, did humans become seafarers? Part of the answer is that we are conditioned by our genetics to be acquisitive we like to acquire rare materials and we are eager for esoteric knowledge, and society rewards us well for both. Looking out to sea most will be curious as to what is out there--a mysterious island perhaps but what lies beyond? Our innate inquisitiveness drives us to explore.
Barry Cunliffe looks at the development of seafaring on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, two contrasting seas-- the Mediterranean without a significant tide, enclosed and soon to become familiar, the Atlantic with its frightening tidal ranges, an ocean without end. We begin with the Middle Palaeolithic hunter gatherers in the eastern Mediterranean building simple vessels to make their remarkable crossing to Crete and we end in the early years of the sixteenth century with sailors from Spain, Portugal and England establishing the limits of the ocean from Labrador to Patagonia. The message is that the contest between humans and the sea has been a driving force, perhaps the driving force, in human history.
Why, then, did humans become seafarers? Part of the answer is that we are conditioned by our genetics to be acquisitive we like to acquire rare materials and we are eager for esoteric knowledge, and society rewards us well for both. Looking out to sea most will be curious as to what is out there--a mysterious island perhaps but what lies beyond? Our innate inquisitiveness drives us to explore.
Barry Cunliffe looks at the development of seafaring on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, two contrasting seas-- the Mediterranean without a significant tide, enclosed and soon to become familiar, the Atlantic with its frightening tidal ranges, an ocean without end. We begin with the Middle Palaeolithic hunter gatherers in the eastern Mediterranean building simple vessels to make their remarkable crossing to Crete and we end in the early years of the sixteenth century with sailors from Spain, Portugal and England establishing the limits of the ocean from Labrador to Patagonia. The message is that the contest between humans and the sea has been a driving force, perhaps the driving force, in human history.
640 pages, Hardcover
Published December 1, 2017
19 people are currently reading
175 people want to read
About the author
Barry Cunliffe
173 books151 followersSir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe taught archaeology in the Universities of Bristol and Southampton and was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2008, thereafter becoming Emeritus Professor. He has excavated widely in Britain (Fishbourne, Bath, Danebury, Hengistbury Head, Brading) and in the Channel Islands, Brittany, and Spain, and has been President of the Council for British Archaeology and of the Society of Antiquaries, Governor of the Museum of London, and a Trustee of the British Museum. He is currently a Commissioner of English Heritage.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 21, 2020
4.5
In Cunliffe's inimitable, accessible style. A companion piece to Facing The Ocean, and Between The Oceans, and an updating from those works. No other archaeologist could write with such a broad and yet precise vision. He is, as ever, entertaining and engaging. A great read to have on hand during this faux quarantine of the planet.
Cunliffe's latest big volume slowly, deliberately aids in filling the conceptual vacuum left by the 19th and early 20th century theorizing that ALL great events to date occurred in the Levant/Nile/Greco-Roman lands or had their origin there. Not so! Metal smelting is just one example of a technology that developed in northern and western Iberia long ago, independent of mideastern influence or at least was not directly carried there by, for example, 'Romans'.
He, with several others, is chipping away at the tired, overworked monolith of 'Celtic' and for that alone richly deserved the knighthood.
One cannot get enough Cunliffe to read, and may he live long and prosper.
In Cunliffe's inimitable, accessible style. A companion piece to Facing The Ocean, and Between The Oceans, and an updating from those works. No other archaeologist could write with such a broad and yet precise vision. He is, as ever, entertaining and engaging. A great read to have on hand during this faux quarantine of the planet.
Cunliffe's latest big volume slowly, deliberately aids in filling the conceptual vacuum left by the 19th and early 20th century theorizing that ALL great events to date occurred in the Levant/Nile/Greco-Roman lands or had their origin there. Not so! Metal smelting is just one example of a technology that developed in northern and western Iberia long ago, independent of mideastern influence or at least was not directly carried there by, for example, 'Romans'.
He, with several others, is chipping away at the tired, overworked monolith of 'Celtic' and for that alone richly deserved the knighthood.
One cannot get enough Cunliffe to read, and may he live long and prosper.
January 10, 2023
An excellent overview of a fascinating subject. It has a bit of a triumphalist tone, celebrating the human curiosity about what is around the next headland rather than the more prosaic desire for food, plunder, and living space.
August 11, 2020
Another excellent Cunliffe survey of history and archeology. An awesome edition with brilliant maps and photographs. An enjoyable read.
December 10, 2022
This was a beautiful broad ranging book over a long period of history. In many ways, I could maybe have done with it in separate chunks divided according to geography or historical period, as there was so much to take in. On the other hand, having it all in one place emphasised the interconnectedness of different cultures and peoples across time. Lovely illustrations and pictures and I specially appreciated the alignment of the maps with the mediterranean lengthways down the page. It made better sense of many of the journeys discussed.
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September 21, 2020Love the way he writes and the fact he assumes no prior knowledge. Really enjoyed reading it. A wonderful book to help pass the time during lockdown.
April 30, 2023
Excellent account of early ancient near eastern and European sailors and explorers of the seas. Highly recommended
February 25, 2024
Outstanding review of the impact of seafaring on civilisations with an analysis of the archaeological evidence for seafaring through pre- and early history.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews