Answering your questions on Week 2
Like last week, we’ve got a selection of team members (Fraser, Thomas and Rodrigo) together in an informal setting to try to answer some of the questions that learners have asked this week. A few of them are ones that were posted in Week 1 after our last video, but most of them are from Week 2.
Questions carried over from Week 1
1.10 History of maritime archaeology
Richard Yoast (Chicago and Santa Fe, USA): Is there much interaction and collaboration between the Maritime Archaeology team and those working on Portus? If so what has been learned from such a collaboration. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/shipwrecks-2/comments/5493449
1.13 The development of a discipline
Peter Probert (West Sussex, UK): I’ve often wondered about a related aspect to the salvage/treasure hunting aspect, which is what is the protection in place vis-a-vis UK ships which have been sunk in international waters? Eg, HMS Repulse was sunk in the South China Sea with large loss of life, but the UK legislation appears to cover UK waters only. Is there anything else in place to help protect against salvage operators, professional or amateur, in this respect? https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/shipwrecks-2/comments/5540654
1.15 The earliest seafarers
Emily Ginder (Bloomfield, New Jersey, USA): How do we know the following: “The first secure evidence of seafaring in the Mediterranean comes from the 11th- 10th millennium BC in the form of obsidian from the island of Melos found in Franchthi cave in Greece.” How can you rule out a later time, like a traveler bringing home a souvenir from his travels?’ https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/shipwrecks-2/comments/5512413
Questions relating to Week 2:
2.4 Ships, shipbuilding and sailing in the ancient Mediterranean
Wendy Cooper: Do we have any evidence when/how ship building developed from ‘one man building his boat’ to the sophisticated types of craft seen by Roman times? https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/shipwrecks-2/comments/5570192
2.8 Medieval seafaring
Loftsman: I am loving this course and very informative as well, although i still would like an answer of when saws started to be used for the cutting of planks in the shipbuilding process, splitting of planks by wedge while effective left so much finishing work to be done by axe or adze while the two man saw was the technological advance for the time I guess. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/shipwrecks-2/comments/5622680
2.3 Late Bronze Age Trade in Eastern Mediterranean
Debbie Wareham (Tal Y Cafn, North Wales): Really enjoyed reading the article. International trade during the late Bronze Age, and the role that Cyprus played in the production of Copper is really interesting. I was wondering tho’ about trade with Britain and export of Copper from here at that time – such as the Great Orme Copper Mines in Llandudno, North Wales? It has always been of interest to understand where the local smelting sites were, and how did they export the copper ore? As I understand, there was some small scale local smelting carried out of low grade copper ore, the rest was exported. The coastline was much further out during those times than today, and there are ancient tree remains on the beaches, so boat building was possible. Also of interest, was the exchange of ideas to develop copper mining in the first instance – was there a steady movement of people and ideas who knew how to identify a source of copper within an area? https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/shipwrecks-2/comments/5595052
2.13 A new technology: from clinker to carvel
John Higham (Wigton, Cumbria): Is it possible that clinker-building, resulting in less rigid hulls, produced ships more suited to the larger waves that were more common in northern and Atlantic waters? https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/shipwrecks-2/comments/5623184
2.2 The Classical World
Dave Hall (London Kent borders, UK): From this introduction it seems that the course focus is on the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean and I am wondering about open water links with Britain. I am aware of two Bronze Age ships that have been found in Britain and I suspect that there were regular shipping routes between Britain and Europe. There were links between Britain and Europe in the Iron Age but I am not if any ships have been found. These links definitely existed in the Roman period but I am not aware of the types of ships used. Therefore I would be interested to know if these ships were the same as those used in other areas or were they different. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/shipwrecks-2/comments/5537341
2.26 Mid course review – we want to hear from you
Gwendolyn Yaegar: Wow, I love this course. The way each subject is backed by a video and article is particularly valuable because there are times where I’m doing the course but can’t see the video. Also, I’ve had the opportunity to share some of these videos in one of my classes, Ancient and Medieval History. I’m going to be teaching a lesson on marine archaeology next week and I was wondering if you had any tips for me or could do a brief summary of the most interesting aspects of the course to a high schooler.
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/shipwrecks-2/comments/5634416