The Bronze Age

[Wansworth]

According to this book I picked up the Bronze Age was a period of fairly settled weather that encouraged exploration and sea travel,obviously a certain amount of conjecture but even bold explorers or would be pillagers would be more tempted to search out new landa and begin trading if it was nicer weather.?This sparked an idea in my head that maybe the fairly settled summer weather from the late 1940s to the early 1970s could have been a factor in the boom in yachting after the war although I suspect other factors like new materials like plywood and GRP would have had a part to play and of course the increasing wealth of the general population.Even so there was a definite period when yachting took to the oceans with Hiscock,Pye et al which could be related to the period of warm weather and lighter weather of our childhoods. The book….Man and the Sea by Philip Banbury might be found in some dust secondhand bookshops or probably on Amazon!

 

[Mark-1]

According to this book I picked up the Bronze Age was a period of fairly settled weather that encouraged exploration and sea travel,obviously a certain amount of conjecture but even bold explorers or would be pillagers would be more tempted to search out new landa and begin trading if it was nicer weather.?This sparked an idea in my head that maybe the fairly settled summer weather from the late 1940s to the early 1970s could have been a factor in the boom in yachting after the war although I suspect other factors like new materials like plywood and GRP would have had a part to play and of course the increasing wealth of the general population.Even so there was a definite period when yachting took to the oceans with Hiscock,Pye et al which could be related to the period of warm weather and lighter weather of our childhoods. The book….Man and the Sea by Philip Banbury might be found in some dust secondhand bookshops or probably on Amazon!

It's surreal thinking of plywood as being a "new material" but undeniably it was. (Well the Romans might disagree, but even so, there will have been very few plywood boats before WW2, so it was a new material in a real sense.)

 

[Stemar]

Not so new

History

The ancient Egyptians and Greeks cut wood thinly and glued it together in layers with the grain in perpendicular directions as fine wood was in short supply. This is believed to have been done purely for cosmetic and economical purposes but it turned out to be a great alternative to pure wood as it reduced flex, making it a versatile building material. [3]

In 1797 Samuel Bentham applied for patents covering several machines to produce veneers. In his patent applications, he described the concept of laminating several layers of veneer with glue to form a thicker piece – the first description of what we now call plywood.[4] Bentham was a British naval engineer with many shipbuilding inventions to his credit. Veneers at the time of Bentham were flat sawn, rift sawn or quarter sawn; i.e. cut along or across the log manually in different angles to the grain and thus limited in width and length.[citation needed]

About fifty years later Immanuel Nobel, father of Alfred Nobel, realized that several thinner layers of wood bonded together would be stronger than a single thick layer of wood. Understanding the industrial potential of laminated wood, he invented the rotary lathe.[5]
Wiki

OTOH, plywood with reasonably waterproof glue is a relatively recent invention. I don't think I'd want to set off across oceans in a boat made of ply made with hide glue. I'm a good swimmer, but I'm not that good...

 

[zoidberg]

I don't think I'd want to set off across oceans in a boat made of ply made with hide glue. I'm a good swimmer, but I'm not that good...

Then there's the Mad Irish idea of setting off across an ocean in a HIDE boat made with hide glue and sinews. I'm sure someone, at the time, thought it was a mad idea and likely said so.

The rumour is that, right now, some of those cranky Jesters - all strung out between Lizard and Bishop - are trying something of the same....

 

[Wansworth]

Then there's the Mad Irish idea of setting off across an ocean in a HIDE boat made with hide glue and sinews. I'm sure someone, at the time, thought it was a mad idea and likely said so.

The rumour is that, right now, some of those cranky Jesters - all strung out between Lizard and Bishop - are trying something of the same....

But you have to agree that thr Irish currare,however it’s spelt,is strong and light ,buoyant and a good load carrier…if all you have are the skin of a cow and a few sticks it turned out well

 

[Puffin10032]

There's increasing archaeological evidence the widespread use of bronze started in this country and spread to the continent and beyond. That's not to claim that the discovery of how to make bronze occurred here (I believe the evidence point to that not being the case) but, if you think about it, we had good sources of both tin and copper so were ideally placed to expand the production and usage of this new wonder metal.

Tin ingots from Cornwall have been found in Bronze Age shipwrecks all across the Med indicating an extensive trade network. Current thinking is the tin was traded via a series of "hubs".

 

[Wansworth]

There's increasing archaeological evidence the widespread use of bronze started in this country and spread to the continent and beyond. That's not to claim that the discovery of how to make bronze occurred here (I believe the evidence point to that not being the case) but, if you think about it, we had good sources of both tin and copper so were ideally placed to expand the production and usage of this new wonder metal.

Tin ingots from Cornwall have been found in Bronze Age shipwrecks all across the Med indicating an extensive trade network. Current thinking is the tin was traded via a series of "hubs".

Yes the Phoenicians were great traders in Tin from Cornwall which route they took from Gibraltar would be interesting to know.

 

[zoidberg]

Yes the Phoenicians were great traders in Tin from Cornwall which route they took from Gibraltar would be interesting to know.

...And whether they were attacked by orcas!

 

[Wansworth]

...And whether they were atacked by orcas!

Sparkman and Stephens was around then

 

[Poignard]

"The Bronze Age"

I'm disappointed, thought this was to be a thread about Blake's sea-cocks

 

[KevinV]

And FlintBook was no doubt filled with comments: "There need to be tight controls placed on this new-fangled bronze, the makers have no idea of the potential consequences for employment, the economy or national security"

 

[Wansworth]

"The Bronze Age"

I'm disappointed, thought this was to be a thread about Blake's sea-cocks

You have Avery low disappointment threshold.

 

[Wansworth]

And FlintBook was no doubt filled with comments: "There need to be tight controls placed on this new-fangled bronze, the makers have no idea of the potential consequences for employment, the economy or national security"

 

[capnsensible]

Bronze age sailors probably still moaned about the weather. And argued over which rock was best to use as an anchor.

Whenever an accident happened, they probably spent ages arguing over the cause without knowing anything about it and were frantic over which God to blame.....

 

[Puffin10032]

Yes the Phoenicians were great traders in Tin from Cornwall which route they took from Gibraltar would be interesting to know.

I'm wondering if they actually ever did the journey. Most of the evidence seems to come from traded objects rather than physical evidence of humans such as skeletons in Cornwall which could be reliably identified by carbon dating and strontium isotope analysis as being someone from the Bronze Age Middle-East. As a modern analogy, if I order something from China it's most unlikely to delivered to my door by a Chinese national. The other thing to consider is just how long would it take to sail a boat which probably can't sail any closer than a beam reach from the Middle-East to the UK and back. You're going to need an awful lot of favorable winds and I doubt they'd want to do the Atlantic section in the winter.

 

[Wansworth]

I'm wondering if they actually ever did the journey. Most of the evidence seems to come from traded objects rather than physical evidence of humans such as skeletons in Cornwall which could be reliably identified by carbon dating and strontium isotope analysis as being someone from the Bronze Age Middle-East. As a modern analogy, if I order something from China it's most unlikely to delivered to my door by a Chinese national. The other thing to consider is just how long would it take to sail a boat which probably can't sail any closer than a beam reach from the Middle-East to the UK and back. You're going to need an awful lot of favorable winds and I doubt they'd want to do the Atlantic section in the winter.

Just googled the idea seems they may well have not !In that cases maybe it was taken across the channel and then overland to what is os Lebanon .

 

[johnalison]

You have Avery low disappointment threshold.

Weighty comment.

 

[Poignard]

Weighty comment.

It was but I'd rate it pretty low on a scale of 1 to 10.

 

[veshengro]

Perhaps a lot of Middle eastern trade went via the Viking rivers routes, Rhine, Danube etc: I'm guessing it's a quicker journey even on the 'Roads' of those times from the German French border to Uk, than a voyage from Gibraltar.

 

[mjcoon]

I'm wondering if they actually ever did the journey. Most of the evidence seems to come from traded objects rather than physical evidence of humans such as skeletons in Cornwall which could be reliably identified by carbon dating and strontium isotope analysis as being someone from the Bronze Age Middle-East. As a modern analogy, if I order something from China it's most unlikely to delivered to my door by a Chinese national. The other thing to consider is just how long would it take to sail a boat which probably can't sail any closer than a beam reach from the Middle-East to the UK and back. You're going to need an awful lot of favorable winds and I doubt they'd want to do the Atlantic section in the winter.

Surely much of the route would have been overland via a bucket-brigade of traders each moving goods a comparatively short distance and getting their cut of the profit. These are not perishable goods, so long as kept out of salty water...

Or are you thinking of onion sellers on push-bikes with a practised French accent?