types, such as naves lapidariae, or the stone carriers, which
transported hundreds of tons of marble and granite from vir-
tually every quarry in the ancient world, to be sculpted into
architectural elements (columns, friezes, and monuments),
sarcophagi, statuary, and furniture. To gain a better sense of
the wide range of vessels that existed in the Roman world, one
need only examine the late Roman ship mosaic from Althi-
burus, Tunisia, or consult the lexicon of ship types assembled
by the grammarian and lexicographer Nonius Marcellus in
the early fourth century c.e.
By the early seventh century c.e. the shell-fi rst ship con-
struction technique of the Greeks and Romans had changed
drastically, as evidenced by the shipwreck excavated at Yassi
Ada, Turkey, in the early 1960s. Th e shallow, widely spaced
mortises and loosely fi t t i n g , u np e g ge d t e non s of t h i s B y z a nt i ne
cargo vessel no longer contributed the primary source of hull
strength; they probably served only to keep the planks aligned
long enough for them to be nailed to the ship’s frames.THE AMERICAS
BY LAWRENCE WALDRON
Th e history of watercraft in the Americas harks back to the
very fi rst arrival of people in those continents. As scholars
continue to debate whether people during the ice age fi rst ar-
rived from Asia on foot or by boat, it is evident that the origi-
nal settlers already possessed some knowledge of seafaring.
Watercraft and maritime navigation in and around the Ber-ing Strait in the late ice age would have been used mostly for
fi shing in coastal waters. Any seafaring skills would have had
to adjust to many new environments once people had arrived
in the Americas.
Varied American coastal conditions as well as reefs, riv-
ers, rapids, lakes, swamps, and estuaries all presented unique
restrictions and opportunities to early American boatmen.
Despite the numerous local innovations, ancient American
watercraft can be grouped into four major types: skin boats
(including kayaks, umiaks, and other bullboats), canoes, raft s,
and reed boats. Such watercraft served either as transporta-
tion between one seasonal habitat and another or as fi shing
or whaling vessels. Watercraft were also used in trade expedi-
tions between neighboring groups and between civilizations
as far apart as Mexico and Peru.
Coastal and riverine voyages of exploration were made
in search of new food sources and trading partners, but it ap-
pears that once in the Americas, ancient Indians were never
again moved to cross to another continent and so never devel-
oped large oceangoing vessels. Many ancient natives turned
their attention not to developing sailing ships that might
carry seamen beyond the horizon but to pioneering a wide
variety of small, highly maneuverable watercraft.
Th e ancient Indians along the northwestern coast of
Canada and the United States developed an unusual kind of
boat. In the absence of a steady supply of timber, the obvi-
ous choice of wooden boats was not available to far-north-
ern and Arctic Indians. Th ese groups were already adept at
making a series of aquatic devices out of sealskin and whale
skin, including infl atable fl otation devices and wetsuits that
remained relatively warm and buoyant in the icy northern
waters. Before the Common Era, therefore, the idea of a skin
boat had already occurred to them. Made of skin stretched
across a frame of wood, these boats proved to be lightweight
and easily manageable in water that could sometimes be an
obstacle course of fl oating ice chunks. Th e Inuit, Aleuts, and
other groups call these craft umiaks or kayaks depending on
their design.
Seasonal movements enabled ancient northern Indians
to maximize their food sources. When it was time to move,
they gathered their possessions and piled into large, round
skin boats called umiaks. Th ese boats were probably paddled
mostly by women, as they were in later times. Th e male hunt-
ers would have traveled alongside the umiaks in smaller boats
also made of skin. Th ese smaller, one-person craft were the
k ind later k nown as kayaks and were used in both fi shing and
the hunting of large marine mammals.
Made in a sleek, elongated shape that seemingly sliced
through water, kayaks were made of skin stretched over even
the top of the boat. Only a small opening was left topside into
which the rider could slip his lower body and sit comfortably.
In this way the kayak acted like an extension of the boater’s
body, with only his upper torso visible as he whisked through
the water, arms moving the paddle in a circular motion. An
ingenious aspect of the craft ’s design was that it could eas-Wall painting of Ulysses and the Sirens, Roman, mid-fi rst century c.e.,
from Pompeii, Italy; the ship, a war galley, is shown in considerable
detail. (© Th e Trustees of the British Museum)ships and shipbuilding: The Americas 9830895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i983 983 10/10/07 2:30:39 PM