Asiatic migrants, testimony to the Native Americans’ ability
to navigate and negotiate even unknown territories. Once in
America, Native Americans greatly diversifi ed their means of
water travel and their techniques of navigation as well. From
predominantly coastal seafaring, they developed great prow-
ess in the negotiation of rivers, rapids, lakes, and various in-
land waters unlike anything that would have existed in their
Paleolithic Siberian homeland.
Ancient Native Americans took to the water for many
reasons, including trade, whaling, and fi shing. Ancient whal-
ing could be quite dangerous. Boatmen harpooned the mas-
sive animals and attached animal-skin fl otation devices to
the prey to fatigue it, mark its location, and fl oat its carcass.
North American whaling traditions, among Alaskan peoples
especially, included journeys in open water far beyond the
sight of land. Th us, northern whalers, among the most pro-
fi cient seamen of all Native Americans, illustrate that Native
Americans did not always follow coastlines in their maritime
expeditions.
Circum-Caribbean groups such as the Maya and the
Arawaks of the Caribbean also made long journeys across
open water, culminating in discoveries of the island ter-
ritories of today’s Caribbean. Arawak explorers in the
Caribbean some 3,000 to 4,000 years ago encountered Pa-
leo-Indian hunter-gatherers who had arrived thousands of
years even before they arrived, bearing out the theory that
even the most ancient Native Americans were expert seafar-
ers. In the case of the Maya mariners, the impetus for their
travels was largely trade, and Maya objects have been found
from the North American Southwest to the Mississippi to
the Caribbean islands.
Th e ancient Americans are known to have exhibited a
highly developed directional sense in the building of their
monuments and architecture. Palaces, pyramids, and other
tombs oft en opened facing one of the cardinal directions or
were aligned to the solstices. Likewise, the celebrated Nazca
Lines in Peru demonstrate that ancient Andeans possessed
advanced surveying techniques, which they would have also
used in their fi shing and military expeditions up and down
the Peruvian, Ecuadorian, and Bolivian coasts. Both the
Nazca and Moche civilizations maintained their empires
through the movement of troops, goods, and ultimately their
cultural infl uence by sea.
Th eir orientation to cardinal points and navigation
through the unpredictable marine conditions induced by
mist, glacial cycles, and the occasional El Niño eff ect show a
great familiarity with the movement of heavenly bodies and
marine currents. Th ere was knowledge of true north and per-
haps even magnetic north. Th e discovery of what is believed
to be a 3,000-year-old Olmec compass may confi rm that an-
cient Americans also possessed some tools that helped them
approximate the location of cardinal points when celestial
bodies could not be seen.
Th e ancient Americans are not known to have ventured
far upon the high seas. Th ey never devised the large ocean-go-ing sailing vessels of their contemporaries in Europe, Africa,
Arabia, or Asia. Rather, with their development of a variety
of quick-moving and highly maneuverable vessels, from one-
man kayaks to massive canoes, they were able to feed com-
munities, stimulate economies, and even build empires.See also astronomy; building techniques and materi-
als; climate and geography; economy; exploration;
foreigners and barbarians; hunting, fishing, and
gathering; inventions; money and coinage; occupa-
tions; religion and cosmology; ships and shipbuilding;
slaves and slavery; trade and exchange; transporta-
tion; war and conquest.FURTHER READING
George Bass, ed., A History of Seafaring Based on Underwater Ar-
chaeology (London: Th ames and Hudson, 1972).
Philip Brooks, Will Fowler, and Simon Adams, Th e Illustrated His-
tory Encyclopedia: Civilizations, Explorations, and Conquest
(London: Hermes House, 2003).
Lionel Casson, Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World (Princ-
eton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1971).
Lionel Casson, Th e Ancient Mariners: Seafarers and Sea Fighters of
the Mediterranean in Ancient Times, 2nd ed. (Princeton N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1991).
Barry Cunliff e, Facing the Ocean: Th e Atlantic and Its Peoples, 8000
b.c.–a.d. 1500 (London: Oxford University Press, 2001).
Barry Cunliff e, “People of the Sea.” British Archaeology 63 (Febru-
ary 2002). Available online. URL: http://www.britarch.ac.uk/
BA/ba63/feat2.shtml. Downloaded on May 7, 2007.
David Fabre, Seafaring in Ancient Egypt (London: Periplus, 2005).
Robert Gardiner, ed., Th e Age of the Galley: Mediterranean Oared
Vessels since Pre-Classical Times (London: Conway Maritime
Press, 1995).
Emory Dean Keoke and Kay Marie Porterfi eld, American Indian
Contributions to the World: Trade, Transportation, and War-
fare (New York: Facts On File, 2005).
Fik Meijer, A History of Seafaring in the Classical World (New York:
St. Martin’s Press, 1986).
John S. Morrison and J. F. Coates, Greek and Roman Oared War-
ships (Oxford, U.K.: Oxbow Books, 1996).
Shelley Wachsmann, “Seafaring.” In Th e Oxford Encyclopedia of
Archaeology in the Near East, vol. 4, ed. Eric M. Meyers (New
York: Oxford University, 1997).▶ settlement patterns
introduction
Before the advent of agriculture, people did not settle in one
place for very long. Th ey survived as hunter-gatherers, mov-
ing about in search of game animals and edible plants. Th e
basic unit of settlement was the camp, which small numbers
of people, usually related by clan ties, used as a base of opera-
tions for hunting and gathering. As the seasons changed and
food supplies diminished, they moved on to a new camp. Ar-settlement patterns: introduction 9610895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i961 961 10/10/07 2:30:34 PM