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Plankboat skeuomorphs in Bronze Age logboats: a Scandinavian perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2015

Ole Thirup Kastholm
Ole Thirup Kastholm*
Affiliation:
Roskilde Museum, Munkebro 2, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark (Email: olekast@roskilde.dk)
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Abstract

Logboats are widely known as the earliest form of water transport and continue to be used today. How then can such a ubiquitous phenomenon be useful in demonstrating maritime networks between distant places? A reassessment of the European, and especially Scandinavian, examples of logboats has revealed that technological and decorative aspects of their design demonstrate a connection between Western Europe, Scandinavia and Britain and Ireland. Here the details of this skeuomorphism are used to argue for a North Atlantic, European maritime network in the Bronze Age.

Keywords

ScandinaviaBronze AgeIron Agelogboatplankboatmaritime networks
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 89 , Issue 348 , December 2015 , pp. 1353 - 1372
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2015 

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