Sailing Textiles from Prehistory to Early History

Serena Sabatini is Associate Professor of Archaeology at the University of Gothenburg and a scholar of European and Mediterranean Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Studies. Her research focuses on the study of production and long-distance trade and exchange of metal, wool, and textiles; she is extensively engaged in research on mobility and aDNA in both humans and animals. Over the years she has also worked in various ways with burial practices, issues of social complexity, identity, and the study of the early urban phenomenon in southern Europe from an interdisciplinary perspective.

• PrefaceAcknowledgementsSummariesList of contributorsIntroductionPart 1. Sails and sail production from Antiquity to the 19th century CE1. From sheep to ship – the lifecycle of Roman sailsMadelaine Miller 2. The reconstruction and use of Viking Age sails: Practical insights and perspectives from maritime experimental archaeologyVibeke Bischoff and Tríona Sørensen 3. A discussion about canvas, linen, and sailcloth from the 17th and 18th centuries: materials, looms, tools, and weavingMarie Ekstedt Bjersing4. The art of sail-making in MaltaClaire Bonavia5. A sailmaker’s story. Investigating historical Scandinavian sailmaking through a craftsman perspectiveMarius Borg-HeggedalPart 2. Archaeological evidence for maritime exchange, sailing, and textile production linked to maritime activities6. Sailing in the Aegean Bronze AgeTina Boloti 7. The emergence of Sail and Sail materials in Prehistoric ScandinaviaBoel Bengtsson8. Long distance exchanges and Sailing in Bronze Age Sardinia Serena Sabatini9. Sewing at sea. Evaluation of Roman textile tools in underwater contexts off the coast of the Iberian PeninsulaMacarena Bustamante-Álvarez, Rafael Sabio González, and Soledad Solana Rubio 10. Sailing without shipwrecks? Comparing evidence for the use of sails in the Pre-Columbian Americas and Bronze Age ScandinaviaMikael Fauvelle Part 3. Boat technology and the significance of ropes and rigging11. Late Bronze Age Aegean ships: hull-shape, rigging, and seaworthinessAngiolo Querci12. The ‘sewn boat’ system from the Cala San Vicente wreck (Pollensa, Mallorca): new insightsCarmen Alfaro and Carlota Viñes13. Ropemaking from bast and hemp: notes on the contribution of ropemaker Ole Magnus to the study of Scandinavian archaeological ropesOlof Pipping and Mikkel Hollmann