Ancient navigation

The development of navigation is reflected in the shipfinds, worldwide and Nordic.

Nordic & Russian

• Waterways and Shipbuilding in north-western Russia in the Middle Ages, P Sorokin
• The Vikings were shift workers, John Larsson
• The Viking – The Oarsman, Bertil Daggfeldt
• The Maritime Cultural Landscape, Christer Westerdahl
• Traditional Zones of Transport Geography in Relation to Vessel Types, C Westerdahl
• Amphibian Transport Systems in northwestern Europe, C Westerdahl
• On the Significance of Portages, Christer Westerdahl
• The relationship between land roads and sea routes in the past, Christer Westerdahl
• Society and Sail, Christer Westerdahl
• The Cog, Medieval Shiptype, Per Åkesson
• King Valdemar's Sailing Route, Per Åkesson
• The Plague and the Northeast, Christer Westerdahl
• Maritime cosmology and archaeology, Christer Westerdahl
• The Holmgard Expedition, Rune Edberg. Sailing from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
• The Vikings in Vinland, Athena Review

Worldwide

• Anmerkungen zum Wasserverkehr während der römischen Kaiserzeit, Timm Weski
• Los condicionantes de la navegación en la antigüedad, Pere Izquierdo Tugas
• Merchant vessels and maritime commerce in Roman times, Giulia Boetto
• La navigation fluviale ancienne, GRAS
• Navigare Necesse Est, Domenico Carro, Italy. The site contains abstracts, and plenty of good images, from the author's books on the Roman navy.
• Ancient Roman Navy, Dan Diffendale
• Les navires de l'antiquité, Francis Lévêque

Perhaps the world's oldest case of documented navigation is the legend of Noah, the Deluge and the Ark. The origin of this story goes back beyond the Bible. It is told in the Gilgamesh Epic and you can read an article on Wikipedia.

Unsolved riddle: Latvia's main river the Daugava leads towards the Dnepr River, Kiev and the Black Sea. This was an old shipping route for Vikings and others. Along the Daugava there are hill forts spaced at about a daytrip's distance. Why? The underwater parts of these hill forts have never been excavated.

Related documents may be found under History of Shipbuilding or Viking and Nautical links. There is plenty of more info on the web about ancient and medieval seafaring, from the Argonauts and the Odyssey to the Hanseatic league. Use a search engine with those keywords and you will find.