Boats of the World: From the Stone Age to Medieval Times

by Sean McGrail

Book Overview

This is the first book to deal comprehensively with the archaeology of rafts, boats, and ships from the Stone Age to Medieval times. All the regions of the world are covered, from Atlantic Europe and the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, the China Sea, and the Pacific.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199271860
• ISBN13: 9780199271863
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 504 Pages
• Weight: 3.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 8.7" x 10.8"

Customer Reviews

Great reference on maritime antiquity

The book is essentially an encyclopedia rather than a narrative history of the evolution of seafaring. So there is a modular format, meaning synoptical outline where ship types have sub-paragraphs on all the variations in a certain regional grouping. The advantage is that there is a heck of a lot of detail, especially the tecnhiques of nautical architecture, plus one can easily compare each type across a variety of ethnic groups. The downside is that the book is kind of choppy, and there is inevitable repetition. All in all, I value this book as a very comprehensive compendium of the latest archaelogical research into ancient maritime technology. Not exactly fireside reading, it is best used as a reference, keying on topics in the index or detailed table of contents. The illustrations are excellent...detailed, clear drawings, instead of the usual overused photos of debris strewn on seabeds or indecipherable collections of driftwood. I find something new each time I pick this heavy book up.