Early Ships and Seafaring

"As a qualified shipwright myself I particularly relate to the extensive and well chosen selection of diagrams and photographs of construction of such craft included in this book." ~Julian Stockwin, author of The Silk Tree and The Powder of Death

“…an ideal and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and university library Maritime History collections…” ~Midwest Book Review

"[A] concise though well-informed look at what knowledge the relatively young field of nautical archaeology has amassed in relation to the water transport of early Europe… a useful introduction to the topic for the uninitiated, and a concise reference for the learned." ~The Maritime History Podcast

"This book covers the relatively new specialization of water transport in archaeology. It is a delightful and informative book that is illustrated throughout with single colour sketches and photographs. Water transport has been curiously under-covered, even though it was of vital importance to developing civilizations and continues to be important today. This is a book that should be widely read because it recounts the way in which water and water transport has shaped human development. Highly recommended." ~Firetrench

"Early Ships and Seafaring is a very good book that ought to be widely read... In three sleek chapters, one on concepts and techniques, one on the Mediterranean and one on the Atlantic, McGrail outlines our knowledge base for European seafaring from prehistory to the end of the Middle Ages; he uses many good examples and offers useful cross references to ethnographic and experimental archaeological data." ~Medieval Archaeology

"This is a short but invaluable book that ends with suggestions for future research." ~Current Archaeology

"Archaeological evidence of boats and ships is unfortunately scare, but McGrail does an excellent job in this book of compiling what knowledge we do have from iconographic, documentary, ethnographic and archaeological sources." ~Current World Archaeology

"[An] excellent exposition." ~UNRV