History Now: Maritime World

Join us for a History Now talk and the keynote presentation for the Sea Change symposium by Professor Wendy van Duivenvoorde (Flinders University).

Maritime archaeology reveals how ships functioned as vehicles of transport and instruments of technological innovation and human connectivity. Whether wrecked or historically known, seafaring vessels embodied advances in shipbuilding, including frame-first construction, multiple masts, the development of the full ship rig, double-planking, metal sheathing applications that allowed people to sail and connect to foreign cultures farther away than their ancestors had done. From the Kyrenia (4th century BC) in the Hellenistic Mediterranean to the early modern Dufyken ship (1606) in the Indian Ocean, these ships stand testimony to human connectivity and technological innovations. These innovations were not merely technical achievements; they reflect the ingenuity of shipwrights responding to practical challenges of long-distance trade, naval protection, and the safe movement of goods and people. Cargoes, agricultural produce, raw materials, and everyday items illustrate the deeply human dimension of seafaring, with ships acting as nodes of exchange that bound communities together across cultural and political boundaries.

The translation of such technologies and practices beyond the Indian Ocean underscores the adaptability and global resonance of ancient maritime traditions. As knowledge systems travelled over oceans, shipbuilding expertise merged with local traditions in the Mediterranean, Red Sea and Indian Ocean, generating hybrid forms that combined Mediterranean structural principles with indigenous techniques, materials, and sailing strategies. These vessels sustained extensive commercial and cultural networks linking the Aegean, Indian Ocean and the Pacific, facilitating not only the movement of commodities but also the circulation of ideas, skills, and belief systems.

By situating shipwrecks within a wider narrative of technological transfer and human interaction, we can see how ocean worlds were part of a connected maritime continuum. Shipwrecks thus stand as enduring archaeological testimonies to humanity’s capacity for innovation, adaptation, and intercultural exchange across seas that both separated and united distant communities.

This presentation is part of the History Council of New South Wales’s 2025 History Now series 2025 and is the keynote lecture for the University of Sydney and Australian National Maritime Museum’s Sea Changes Symposium: Power, Money and Technology in the Maritime World (27–28 November 2025)

This History Now talk will be followed by a short reception provided by the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre (SSEAC).

History Now is presented by the History Council of NSW, the Chau Chak Wing Museum and the University of Sydney's Vere Gordon Childe Centre.