The Ocean Below

This book explores the archaeology of ancient freediving in the Mediterranean through an overview of the existing available textual and material sources, proposing a novel methodological and conceptual framework to approach this fascinating subject.

While traditional research has focused on human activities “above water”, or even in the case of underwater archaeology, on structures and objects that were once above water, our understanding of ancient human interactions “below the surface” is rather limited. This work broadens the understanding of ancient coastal communities' interactions with the underwater environment and, for the first time, the study of ancient divers goes beyond the mere listing of references about their activities in ancient resources to include a deep reassessment of both the material culture their practitioners left behind, and the medium (natural, social, and symbolic) in which their activity took place. This book demonstrates how the most recent re-evaluation of material culture has revealed evident underwater applications, and how a cognitive-sensory approach to the visual and textual representations of underwater spaces shows that many of these were indeed influenced by real-world diving experiences.

By establishing new avenues of research and directions for future study, this volume is primarily for archaeologists dealing with ancient maritimity and the relationship between humans and the marine environment.