Knowledge Beyond the Sea: Dissemination of Shipbuilding Knowledge and Shipwrights Communities of Practice in the Atlantic World

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Sal, Bacalhau e Açúcar : Trade, Mobility, Circular Navigation and Foodways in the Atlantic World", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Beyond the distribution of goods and the mobility of individuals, trading networks also involve the dissemination of knowledge and ideas, both through passive and active processes. Because ships were central to these networks, shipwrights participated in this intellectual exchange, either directly by being sent to colonies or indirectly through their ships whose design could be replicated or inspire transregional adaptations. Local knowledge and adaptations are also part of this cultural transference equation, existing and evolving as a dynamic cluster of ideas that were discussed, weighted and adapted both in colonial and European shipyards.

This paper explores the idea of knowledge dissemination and the creation of shipwrights communities of practice in the Atlantic World through archeological and historical examples, mostly from the perspective of the French network but also addresses other regions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• Sal, Bacalhau e Açúcar : Trade, Mobility, Circular Navigation and Foodways in the Atlantic World

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow