Medieval Harbours in Norway: on a newly discovered jetty and possible ship‐blockage on Veøy in Romsdal

In the Middle Ages walls and ditches were used for defensive purposes on land; city walls and moats surrounding castles are part and parcel of the public image of the Middle Ages. Less well known are the defence systems constructed under the sea to protect harbours and waterways. In Scandinavia such systems, ship‐blockages, are especially well investigated in Denmark. In Norway medieval harbour‐defence systems and ship‐blockages are less known. This paper presents and discusses medieval harbours and defence systems in Norway, in particular the newly discovered jetty and possible ship‐blockage on Veøy in Romsdal, western Norway.     

Mombasa Island: A Maritime Perspective

Mombasa’s strategic position on the Swahili Coast and fine harbours were key factors in its emergence as a prosperous city state during the early second millennium AD. These same attributes drew the attention of rival powers in the struggle to control the lucrative Indian Ocean trade network, particularly during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Drawing from a rich legacy of cartographic and documentary sources created in the course of Mombasa’s turbulent history, this paper presents the results of a coastal archaeological survey undertaken in 2001 as part of a wider collaborative maritime project.     

REIMAGINING ROMAN PORTS AND HARBOURS: THE PORT OF ROMAN LONDON AND WATERFRONT ARCHAEOLOGY

This paper explores some theoretically informed ways in which to use the rich evidence relating to ports, harbours and other waterfront installations in archaeology. It argues that studies of waterfront structures within the specialisms of nautical/maritime and wetland archaeology are extremely important in their own right, but they could also be used to explore broader issues connected with their use and context. These include the cultural and religious significance of water and its dangers, the symbolic significance of landscape change, the relationship between people and their environment and the negotiation of the land/water interface. Examining the evidence of the port of Roman London as a case study, this paper explores the archaeology in its local setting and addresses a number of subjects relating to both its temporal and spatial position. It focuses on the religious significance of water and the implications of altering waterscapes through artificial construction.     

Using Sector‐Scan Sonar for the Survey and Management of Submerged Archaeological Sites

This article reports the results of using a sector‐scan sonar to record diverse submerged archaeological sites in shallow and deep water. The Kongsberg MS1000 sector‐scan sonar was developed for commercial applications, typically underwater inspections of bridges, dams, ports and harbours. The ability of the device to rapidly generate high‐quality, geometrically accurate scans of submerged features, coupled with its ease of use and deployment make it a potentially important, yet largely overlooked, tool for survey and management of underwater archaeological sites. As one of several technologies available, the paper examines its advantages and limitations, and considers, through case studies, under which conditions it is most effectively deployed.     

The harbour at Viana do Castelo in Portugal: Planning in a vacuum

Harbour communities across Europe and the US are in the midst of major changes. Shifting trade regulations, declining supplies of fish, the rise of recreational boating and new shipping technologies have all contributed to these changes. In response, communities are undertaking major planning efforts to ensure that their harbours remain functional and prosperous. One example of this effort is the Port of Viana do Castelo, Portugal. The thesis of this paper is that unless small and medium sized harbours have a strong and planned sense of direction, they will suffer an economic decline and lose their historic and cultural character.     

Pirate Ports and Harbours of West Cork in the Early Seventeenth Century

In the early part of the seventeenth century in Ireland select harbours along the southwest coast of Munster acted as the North Atlantic headquarters for pirates, primarily made up of English mariners. The places picked by the pirates as their bases were spatially strategic and three harbours in particular dominated this West Cork landscape—Baltimore, Leamcon and Crookhaven. Complicit English officers facilitated this activity and pirates and their families settled on the estates of the local officials while others used this pirate landscape as a staging point for plundering adventures further afield. As a consequence, piracy in Irish waters at that time had a profound influence on local economies, social activities and, in some cases, political events. Indeed the tolerance shown to it in the early seventeenth century in the southwest may be explained by the fact that it facilitated the colonial effort ongoing under the Munster Plantation and thus, inadvertently, suited the purposes of official government.     

Locating the Harbour: Myos Hormos/Quseir al-Qadim: a Roman and Islamic Port on the Red Sea Coast of Egypt

Recent maritime investigations at Quseir al-Qadim, on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, have revealed the importance of this port in both the Roman and later Islamic periods. This paper outlines the key evidence for the location of the harbours, from survey, sedimentological analysis and selective excavation. The Roman harbour, occupied between the 1st century BC and the 3rd century AD, was located in a now-silted lagoon. Over 100 sedimentological cores indicated its siltation process. By the time the site was reoccupied in the 12th century AD, the harbour was reduced to a small bay at the entrance to the former lagoon.
© 2007 The Author     

Coastal villas, maritime villas; a perspective from Southern Britain

The coastal siting of Romano-British villas is generally discussed and attention is particularly focused on the Channel seaboard of Britain. Here, comparison is made with the distribution of those natural harbours and offshore anchorages that have been traditionally favoured by sailing craft. These are clearly described in the first edition of Hobb’s British Channel Pilot of 1859. A relationship is proposed between the rare incidence of leeward anchorages and the siting of villas at Folkestone, Eastbourne, Sidlesham, Weymouth and Honeyditches. Other villas with significant maritime settings are identified at Southwick, Fishbourne, Emsworth, and Brading all of which adjoin harbours or ‘roads’ identified by Hobbs. In the Eastern Solent, anchorages at Spithead, Mother Bank and Cowes Roads are equated with the Magnus Portus described by Ptolemy. At this location some supportive evidence is offered by Roman ceramics recently recovered from the seabed. Attention is also drawn to maritime themes in the mosaics at Fishbourne, Brading and Low Ham where the chosen mythological scenes appear to be an overt expression of contemporary nautical preoccupations.     

Mud box—filled with stone: the wreck of the scow schooner Dan Hayes

Scow Schooners are an important yet largely unstudied vessel type that operated on the North American Great Lakes. At their zenith in the later 19th century scow schooners worked between the many small harbours and the larger nexus ports such as Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee. These vessels are virtually undocumented either historically or archaeologically. A project by East Carolina University's Maritime Studies Program and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in 2001 documented the wrecked scow schooner Dan Hayes , revealing much information concerning this vessel class and the limestone industry in which it was employed. Although an ordinary scow schooner, its construction techniques are surprising, showing evidence of prefabrication. The bottom of the ship was apparently built inverted and flipped over before sides and bow were added, the first evidence that inverted construction could be accomplished with such large vessels.     

Do Ships Shape the Shore? An Analysis of the Credibility of Ship Archaeological Evidence for Landing Site Morphology in the Baltic Sea

In the context of the development of different kinds of watercraft during prehistory an interdependent line of development for landing sites and harbours is often suggested, and used to argue that it is almost impossible archaeologically to locate small and early landing sites. Although the constructional properties of prehistoric watercraft suggest that landing‐structures were not absolutely necessary, there is nevertheless archaeological evidence of landing‐facilities from the Stone Age, as well as landing‐facilities for smaller boats to consider. This article will discuss to what extent ship archaeological evidence could be seen in a corresponding development to landing sites in its respective periods. © 2012 The Author     

The Engineers of a Minor Port—Peterhead,Scotland, 1772-1872

Abstract

In the period when Britain's ports and harbours underwent major developments as the Industrial Revolution got underway, our leading civil engineers were much in demand, not just at the major centres of mercantile activity such as London or Glasgow, but also at numerous less important locations. In Scotland, improvements were encouraged by government grants through agencies such as the British Fisheries Society, and at Peterhead, the Town Council and the Harbour Trustees transformed its haven into a harbour of more than a purely local significance. Their success was partly due to their employment of some of the leading harbour engineers of the day.     

Report on Underwater Excavation at the Phoenician Harbour,Atlit, Israel

Atlit is a small Phoenician settlement on the Carmel coast, with an artificial harbour, built during Iron Age II, before the Assyrian occupation, and used until the end of the Persian era. There are no remains of any later construction, in contrast to other Phoenician ports such as Sidon and Tyre. The study of Atlit harbour has therefore provided invaluable information on the positioning, planning and construction of Phoenician harbours in the Levant. This article is a summary of the most recent underwater excavation seasons at the harbour, and presents our conclusions on construction techniques and their historical implications. © 2009 The Author     

Dr. H.F. Verwoerd en die Ossewa-Brandwag 1938–1952

Abstract

South Africa's railway and harbours operator (SAR&;H) was the arch promoter of overseas tourism to South Africa for thirty years after Union in 1910. To its package tours for independent inbound tourists, the SAR&;H added exclusive port-to-port rail trips across South Africa by partnering with overseas cruise ship operators. Whereas the European market was a mainstay, the more distant North American market only became accessible in relation to lengthy round-the-world cruises. Between 1926 and 1939 approximately fifty long-distance luxury trains met thirty-one cruise liners to transport some 5,000 wealthy tourists through various inland scenic, cultural and wildlife attractions in southern Africa. Port calls by visiting cruise liners created their own spectacle and stir. Eventually more cruise passengers elected to stay on board ship at the end of long ocean voyages, elite visitors took cross-country flights to increase the novelty of travel, and this first period of South African sea-rail tourism came to a close.     

Water and the Urban Fabric: a study of towns and waterscapes in the Roman period in Britain

This paper highlights the ways in which components of waterscapes—rivers, lakes, pools, wetlands and waterfronts—formed elements of the urban fabric in the Roman period. Urban archaeology has focused mainly on features relating to land, while nautical archaeology, studying rivers, ports and harbours, trade and seafaring, reminds us of the importance of watery contexts. By examining waterscapes in the urban setting we can start to break down some of the traditional dichotomies in archaeology between land and water. Water could form an integral part of the lived environment and acquire cultural meanings that can be studied archaeologically. © 2012 The Author     

Discovery of Ancient Harbour Structures in Calabria, Italy, and Implications for the Interpretation of Nearby Sites

During underwater survey around Crotone, Calabria, Italy, in 2005, structures from two harbour phases were located, possibly dating from the Archaic Greek and Roman periods. Both harbours are close to the Greek and Roman architectural remains on Capo Colonna, as well as to underwater deposits of large stone blocks and other, previously-excavated sites. With the discovery of these harbour structures, new hypotheses arise for understanding the building-material deposits and excavated sites. A critical component of these hypotheses is the assessment of local geological data, specifically ancient sea-level, in relation to the archaeological record.
© 2007 Author     

Shipwreck in a swamp: the Burroughs site at Edenton, N. Carolina, USA

This preliminary site analysis of a suspected 18th-century shipwreck located in Edenton, North Carolina, USA, helps call to question the roll of abandonment in the examination of ships as artefacts. Abandonments often provide an easily accessed and inexpensive means of fleshing out knowledge of ship construction in the past. Abandonments are typically located near historically well-used commercial ports and harbours and may now be hidden by shallow water, marshland or land fill. These areas, in many instances, are inaccessible to normal remote sensing survey techniques.     

The ROMACONS Project: a Contribution to the Historical and Engineering Analysis of Hydraulic Concrete in Roman Maritime Structures

Since all long-distance trade in the Roman world travelled by water, Roman harbour design and construction have special importance. Harbour excavation must be supplemented by analysis of the components of the hydraulic concrete, structural analysis of the cementing materials, and consideration of the design of the wooden formwork. The authors have begun collecting large cores from concrete blocks at Roman harbours and other maritime structures, analysing the materials used, the method of placement, and the structural characteristics of the resulting concrete. These data have provided new information on the engineering properties of Roman concrete, the process of funding and execution, and the trade in the volcanic ash which was the crucial component of hydraulic concrete.
© 2004 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
The current state of archaeology in Britain A review article
The Elizabethan navy and the Armada of Spain. D. W. WATERS and G. P. B. NAISH
Boats of the longshoremen. JOHN GLASSPOOL
Lifeboats of the world. E. W. MIDDLETON
Victorian and Edwardian ships and harbours from old photographs. BASIL GREENHILL and ANN GIFFORD
Welsh sail, a pictorial history. SUSAN CAMPBELL-JONES
Return of the Great Britain . RICHARD GOOLD-ADAMS
The Great Circle: Journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History. Edited by F. BROEZE
Sailing ships. BJÖRN LANDSTRÖM