The Shell and the Skeleton: The Circumstances for the Transition in Shipbuilding Technologies in the Late-Antique Southern Levant

Current research on the transition from shell to skeleton in ancient Mediterranean ship construction concludes that due to the complex nature of the process no simple linear development may be assumed. Some of the earliest representations of the transition have now been traced along the coasts of Israel, dating to the Byzantine and early Muslim periods. By understanding the nature of the process and its timing, we are able to synchronize it with prominent phenomena characteristic of the region and period. This article aims to contextualize this significant technological shift, which rendered millennia-old building traditions irrelevant, and introduced a new method that soon became the preferred option in the Mediterranean and beyond. The article synthesizes insights from the fields of ancient technologies, maritime archaeology, environmental studies, and the history of the southern Levant, all soundly located at the heart of Tom Levy’s lifelong research activity.