Mediterranean Connections

Maritime Transport Containers and Seaborne Trade in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages

A Knapp author Stella Demesticha author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:10th Dec '19

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

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Mediterranean Connections cover

Mediterranean Connections focuses on the origin and development of maritime transport containers from the Early Bronze through early Iron Age periods (ca. 3200–700 BC). Analysis of this category of objects broadens our understanding of ancient Mediterranean interregional connections, including the role that shipwrecks, seafaring, and coastal communities played in interaction and exchange. These containers have often been the subject of specific and detailed pottery studies, but have seldom been examined in the context of connectivity and trade in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.

This broad study:



  • considers the likely origins of these types of vessels;




  • traces their development and spread throughout the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean as archetypal organic bulk cargo containers;




  • discusses the wider impact on Mediterranean connections, transport and trade over a period of 2,500 years covering the Bronze and early Iron Ages.


Classical and Near Eastern archaeologists and historians, as well as maritime archaeologists, will find this extensively researched volume an important addition to their library.

“A wide-ranging and stimulating survey of maritime exchange in the eastern Mediterranean from [ca. 3200-700 BC] as viewed comparatively through the lens of regionally specific bulk transport containers.” - Jeremy B. Rutter, Dartmouth College

“This book tackles a crucial formative stage in a longer Mediterranean transport container tradition and does so in unprecedented detail and with a clear eye for its wider ramifications, with regard both to regional economic traditions and the overall dynamics of eastern Mediterranean trade. Famous markers of Bronze Age transport such as the Canaanite jar take their place alongside a host of other, hitherto poorly understood, Bronze and early Iron Age cousins. The overall result constitutes a significant move forward in our understanding, with a blend of both detail and overview that will ensure it remains enduringly useful and interesting." - Andrew Bevan, Institute of Archaeology, University College London

"Without a doubt, the book is an important reference work for maritime archaeologists interested in early trade networks as well as Classical and Near Eastern archaeologists." - Michaela Reinfeld, German Archaeological Institute, Berlin

ISBN: 9780367890315

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 453g

284 pages