Guttandin, Panagiotopoulos, Pflug, Plath, Inseln der Winde

Die maritime Kultur der bronzezeitlichen Ägäis

From November 2010 through July 2011, the Institute for Classical Archaeology in Heidelberg ran an exhibition on the "Maritime Culture of Bronze Age Aegean". It featured beautiful models of Aegean and Minoan ships and harbor installations, accompanied by extensive documentation of context and background. If you missed the exhibition (like I did, regrettably), you still may enjoy the excellent (German language) catalog.

In fact, the two-pounder in landscape A4 format is not a typical catalog, but rather a full-fledged and richly illustrated monograph, distinguished by two particular features:

1. It covers in great depth the geological, meteorological, botanical conditions of ship building and seafaring at that time (which sea currents, which wind directions to consider; which tree species were suitable for which type of ship, and where did these trees grow), in all cases documented by impressive maps
2. It does an excellent job helping the reader/visitor to grasp all presented concepts. This is done by great illustrations, and 3D models, up to the point where it runs you step-by-step through a 9-step scenario telling you what you need to do - supposed you are a Minoan overseas trader and want to make your cargo ready to set sail..

Despite the book's undisputed quality I want to mention two weaknesses.

• Maybe it is inherent in the form of an exhibition to present statements as facts, where in truth most of them - even if presented as wooden models - are mere hypotheses. This gets a bit lost.
• Different from Wachsmann, who is less graphic, but digs deeper, the book does not at all cover seafaring in contemporary cultures (in Egypt, the Levante), which were in contact with the Aegean seafarers and had mutual influence.