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Denizcilik Arkeolojisi Dergisi Maritime Archaeology Periodical

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the sea and seafaring have played crucial roles in the movement of people and the development
of historical processes not only in the history of the recent world, but also during the prehistoric periods. Although
it is not intense and regular during the Paleolithic Period, it is possible to propose that there were seafaring activ-
ities in the Eastern Mediterranean based on the increasing amount of data from various studies. Despite ongoing
skepticism about the bifaces in Cyprus, the finds from Crete and Gavdos seems to have shifted the skeptical
paradigm about the Pleistocene seafaring. Appropriate research methods and qualified teams who are familiar
with material of the period may soon succeed to prove the presence of Paleolithic Period in Cyprus and other
Mediterranean islands.
Evidence of seafaring from the Upper Paleolithic Period is more reliable. It is already known that the Melian
obsidian deposits were known, and transported to the Greek mainland even though they were small in number.
The foragers at the beginning of the Holocene Period are described as small mobile groups who had a firm un-
derstanding of seafaring, seasonally moving between the islands and having widespread exchange networks. The
archaeological evidence leaves little room for discussion that there was an active overseas mobility in the Aegean
between the 9th and 7the millennium. Island- and coastline-based lifestyles both made use of obsidian sources in
sites such as Melos and Giali, and hunted and collected seafood on the islands and coasts. Based on these findings,
we argue that seafaring knowledge reached new levels and the sea became a bridge rather than a barrier. Thus,
the sea and seafaring became an important part of daily life. For this reason, the Mesolithic finds in the Aegean
represent the most qualified evidence of a regular and competent use of marine and coastal resources, which were
47
described as “foraging seascapes” by Barker, by master seafarers .
It seems that the first groups that settled in Cyprus had taken both animals and plants with them. Those groups
who wanted to rebuild the natural habitat of the Levant or Anatolia in Cyprus, lacking any endemic mammals,
transported domesticated animals and plants as well as non-domesticated game animals to the island within a
period of a thousand years. These societies, which acquired an advanced seafaring knowledge at least since the
Epipaleolithic Period successfully managed to transport livestock to Cyprus, and radically changed both the natu-
ral and cultural history of the island carrying their Neolithic lifestyle to this “remote” island by simple watercrafts.

47 KNAPP 2013, 72.

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