The navigation of the Aegean Sea, though easy, requires constant attention, and a place of shelter should always be kept in view, so that safety may be assured before dark in the event of an approaching gale; the weather may become so thick that among the labyrinth of islands the land may be hardly seen in time to avoid it. (USNOO 1971a: 18)
Having considered the range of ships and boats that the Mycenaeans used, in this chapter I examine the environmental conditions for seafaring and navigation in the LBA Aegean area. The scope of inquiry must now broaden to include everything from global weather systems to minute local variations, since processes at all these scales interact to generate conditions at sea. I reconstruct many of these environmental parameters of navigation based on both modern data and ancient evidence, and give examples of their consequences for seafaring. I then discuss the practice of navigation in the Aegean, and conclude with speculation about the formation of maritime communities in the Bronze Age, and the means by which they and their knowledge were reproduced and perpetuated through time.
Environmental Conditions for Navigation
The environmental conditions for navigation in the Aegean Sea are produced by complex interactions of atmospheric, hydrospheric, and lithospheric (terrestrial) forces operating at different scales, i. e., global; basin-scale (Mediterranean); sub-basin-scale (the eastern or western basin of the Mediterranean, or one of its constituent bodies of water such as the Aegean Sea); mesoscale (e. g., contained within the Aegean); or microscale (local; Robinson et al. 2001: 1). Global atmospheric systems account for much of overall Mediterranean variation, but they are modified by interactions with smaller-scale processes, from basin-scale to microscale, to produce the localized conditions that navigators encounter in the coastal and offshore waters of the Aegean (Oddo et al. 2009). The flows of air and water at all scales are driven by gradients in pressure, temperature, and density, as well as by terrestrial and submarine topography.1 What follows is a summary of the most salient environmental factors that impact navigation of the eastern Mediterranean, taking account of recent meteorological and oceanographic research and addressing the specific conditions of the Bronze Age.
World History
