Overview

This book will be available in an open access edition thanks to the generous support by the Lund University Library and the Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology at Lund University. Exploring how ancient peoples developed seafaring technology and used watercraft to support and transform their societies The development of seafaring technology throughout history expanded geographical and social horizons—powering human mobility and interaction, structuring social contexts, shaping worldviews, and effecting political centralization. This volume examines how watercraft have served as groundbreaking innovations throughout human history, focusing on small-scale societies in saltwater environments. Using archaeological, historical, and ethnographic evidence, contributors examine settlement patterns in western Patagonia, whale hunting by Megalithic societies in Brittany, maritime mobility in Baja California, Coast Salish trip lengths, and Inuit connections to boats and the sea in the Eastern Arctic. Themes explored include the technological capacities of watercraft and the humans who propelled them, the role of watercraft in production and consumption of resources, the impacts of widespread travel on social networks, and the phenomenological experience of seafaring. The Archaeology of Seafaring in Small-Scale Societies illuminates the complex interplays that sustained past watery worlds and highlights the necessity of studying the subject with a holistic and globally comparative approach. Contributors: Bettina Schulz Paulsson Peter Jordan Jordi A. Rivera Prince Matthew Des Lauriers Colin Grier Greer Jarrett Mikael Fauvelle Nelson Aguilera Peter Whitridge Claudia García-Des Lauriers Alberto García-Piquer Raquel Piqué Adam Rorabaugh Erin Smith Victor D. Thompson

Full Product Details

Author:   Alberto García-Piquer ,  Mikael Fauvelle ,  Colin Grier
Publisher:   University Press of Florida
Imprint:   University Press of Florida
ISBN:  

9780813079493

ISBN 10:   0813079497
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   16 December 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

List of Figures ixList of Tables xiii Foreword xv Acknowledgments xvii 1. Why Boats Matter: Breaking Down Terrestrial Bias in Archaeology 1 Mikael Fauvelle, Alberto García-Piquer, and Colin Grier 2. Navigating Paradigms: Seafaring, Settlement Patterns, and Social Interaction in Southernmost South America 17 Alberto García-Piquer 3. Seascapes of the Unreal: Using Agent-Based Modeling to Examine Traditional Coast Salish Maritime Mobility 43 Adam N. Rorabaugh 4. Were Sperm Whales Hunted by Megalithic Communities in Brittany, France, During the Fifth Millennium cal BCE? 58 Bettina Schulz Paulsson 5. Seascapes and Society on the Forgotten Peninsula: The Watercraft and Conceptual Geography of Baja California, Mexico 77 Matthew R. Des Lauriers and Claudia García-Des Lauriers 6. Kanči: Indigenous Seafaring, Watercraft Diversity, and Cultural Contact in Southern Patagonia 94 Nelson Aguilera Águila, Alberto García-Piquer, and Raquel Piqué 7. Collective Action, Transport Costs, Watercraft Technologies, and the Engineered Ancestral Landscapes of Southern Florida 115 Victor D. Thompson 8. The Transformative Power of Boats: Seafaring, Maritime Interaction, and Social Complexity 134 Mikael Fauvelle and Peter Jordan 9. Going by Boat-Being: An Indigenous Ontological Approach to Watercraft in the Pacific Northwest Coast 149 Erin M. Smith 10. Precontact Inuit Watercraft and the Hunter–Prey Actantial Hinge 172 Peter Whitridge 11. Caballito de Totora Assemblages in Ancient and Modern Huanchaco, Peru 199 Jordi A. Rivera Prince 12. Toward, Not To: Seafaring Worldviews from Viking Age and High Medieval Norway 219 Greer Jarrett 13. Negotiating Watery Worlds: Crafting a Research Agenda 243 Colin Grier, Mikael Fauvelle, and Alberto García-Piquer List of Contributors 261 Index 263

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Author Information

Alberto García-Piquer is a postdoctoral scholar at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. Mikael Fauvelle is associate professor of archaeology and ancient history at Lund University. Fauvelle is coeditor of An Archaeology of Abundance: Reevaluating the Marginality of California’s Islands. Colin Grier is professor of anthropology at Washington State University. Contributors: Bettina Schulz Paulsson Peter Jordan Jordi A. Rivera Prince Matthew Des Lauriers Colin Grier Greer Jarrett Mikael Fauvelle Nelson Aguilera Peter Whitridge Claudia García-Des Lauriers Alberto García-Piquer Raquel Piqué Adam Rorabaugh Erin Smith Victor D. Thompson

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