tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315236707728759521.post8709691409226130057..comments2024-03-28T21:52:52.100-06:00Comments on Dispatches From Turtle Island: How Long Was A Trip From Sweden To Cyprus And Back By Sail?Andrew Oh-Willekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02537151821869153861noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315236707728759521.post-12087766636776736672013-05-18T09:40:26.686-06:002013-05-18T09:40:26.686-06:00"Canny pre-modern sailors probably knew the w..."Canny pre-modern sailors probably knew the wind patterns well enough to time their trips so that they had favorable winds at least half of the time"<br /><br />Actually this would be a good reason for splitting the journey into at least a Med section and an Atlantic section. Atlantic sailors would know this sort of information better for the Atlantic and vice versa.Greyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13398462488549380796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315236707728759521.post-56581123868051097932013-05-17T20:04:05.478-06:002013-05-17T20:04:05.478-06:00Of course. Check this map: http://trade-routes-res...Of course. Check this map: http://trade-routes-resources.blogspot.com/2008/02/amber-routes.html <br /><br />However I've never read of any major amber route across the continent in the Chalcolithic. It would seem that they were only established since the Bronze Age. Majuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12369840391933337204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315236707728759521.post-69672406009264998672013-05-17T16:20:49.185-06:002013-05-17T16:20:49.185-06:00I don't disagree that there could be more than...I don't disagree that there could be more than two segments. Both the Atlantic route and the Mediterranean route naturally break into commercially reasonable segments.<br /><br />I think that the genetic legacy in coastal communities and archaeological traces argue for sea routes rather than riverine ones in the Calcolithic, at least from Sweden to Iberia and Iberia to the Aegean. <br /><br />There might have been a parallel riverine routes for the amber trade from the vicinity of Belarus and European Russia to along the Dnieper, the Don and the Volga to the Black Sea, Caspian Sea, and onto the rest of the world from there. But, the advantages of this route decline greatly by the time you are as far west as Sweden, and Sweden is too far from the Danube to make that route attractive.andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08172964121659914379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315236707728759521.post-64026356186722826822013-05-17T10:12:32.276-06:002013-05-17T10:12:32.276-06:00Quite interesting observations, Andrew. I was just...Quite interesting observations, Andrew. I was just debating with Eurologist at FTWTWWA on whether a land (semi-riverine) journey would be better, easier. Certainly inland "amber routes" along rivers are attested for the Bronze Age but not so much for the Chalcolithic and I argued that a reason may have been that inland trade was more threatened than naval routes by possibly hostile tribes or polities, which would have wanted a share (or even a monopoly) on such a profitable trade, never mind free bandits. <br /><br />Whatever the case, this you say about likely duration of the journey, not counting the unavoidable stops, seems to fit within a reasonable frame (probably sailors were dedicated workers and not part-time ones as you suggest, much as Medieval Flemish traders and such). Still the duration of the journey (never mind seasonal difficulties because of storms, unfavorable winds, etc.) makes it more likely that the route was divided in at least two segments (we can't ignore other possible segmentation at Britain for example). Majuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12369840391933337204noreply@blogger.com