Maritime Encounters

This project’s central aim is to fill persistent gaps, opened by recent studies based on archaeology and aDNA, to understand maritime dimensions of migration, mobility and exchange along the Atlantic façade from Norway to Iberia. We will investigate the evolution of prehistoric maritime technologies and navigational capabilities on seas, rivers and lakes, and their role in major migrations.

The project is led by the Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, and funded by the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond from 2022–8.

Presenting Counterpoints to The Dominant Terrestrial Narrative of European Prehistory is the first in the multi-author series Maritime Encounters, outputs of the major six-year (2022–28) international research initiative, funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.

This major new series examines the contribution and significance of maritime transport, movement, and trade in the shaping of Bronze Age communities and social complexity in north-west Europe. Our research programme is based on a maritime perspective, as a counterpoint to prevailing land-based vantages on Europe’s prehistory. It includes a far-ranging, research-led reconsideration of the role of mining and source areas of metals and metal exchange networks in the Bronze Age along the seaboard between Iberia, Ireland, Britain, and Scandinavia, and models a maritime mode of production.