The Global Origins And Development of Seafaring

The 24 papers of this volume were first delivered at the eponymous conference held in September 2007 at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the U. of Cambridge, the UK. Though two papers are included on the development of boats and seafaring, the remaining papers consider the study of the impact of seafaring itself, with separate sections on inferences of early seafaring, holocene circumstances and incentives of seafaring, and sailing and society. Individual topics include evidence for seafaring on the Atlantic seaboard, reasons for the Viking age diaspora, prehistoric Pacific population movements, and evidence for the origins of seafaring in Pleistocene Sahul. Archaeology and history of languages are among the research tools. The volume, which is oversized (8.75x11.25"), is well illustrated with b&w drawings, maps, and photos. It's distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)