Summary

The paper is intended as an introduction to the topic of water traffic. Its part I presented here deals with the sources of information on water traffic. The article draws on the earliest evidence from different regions of the world for voyaging on the high seas. In addition follow some remarks upon possible kinds of water vessels in the Palaeolithic period. Part II of the article will be devoted to human remains connected with the history of seafaring.

Summary

Contrary to the opinion of some scholars there are no archaeological or written sources attesting the existence before the Late Period of a natural or artifi cial waterway connecting the Nile valley with the Red Sea. During the fi rst Persian dominion in Egypt king Darius I shortly after 500 B.C. completed the canal which had been begun about a century earlier by pharaoh Necho II. About 275 B.C. king Ptolemy II Philadelphus ordered to dig out the canal again; its course was changed a little and a double lock was built in the outlet to the Red Sea. Between 112 and 117 A.D. the Roman emperor Trajan ordered to excavate the canal again, drawing the water off from the Nile further south. More repair work is recorded from the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. After the reopening by the Arabian commander Amrû in the first half of the 7th century the canal was navigable during the annual Nile flood until the end of the 8th century.
The different reasons of the rulers of Egypt to connect the Nile valley with the Red Sea by a canal are discussed in the article.

Summary

In July 1999 the authors took part in the investigation of a German tugboat. The Arngast sank around 1921/22 in the Baltic Sea. The research was carried out by the Polish Maritime Museum. During the two-week campaign the area of the quarters could be investigated with the aid of an airlift and further findings were recovered.