The Freediving Library

Here you can find a selection of resources on freediving in archaeology, history and anthropology from a variety of resources. For accessing them just click on the links below and you will be taken to the different repositories. Feel free to share this material, but please use the link to the professional profiles of each author rather than the .pdf files, since the number of visits and downloads can help everybody’s work gaining more visibility.

Our research:

The following works are derived from our own research; we hope the list will increase soon with more entries, so please visit us from time to time to check our new publications:

Rodriguez-Alvarez, Emilio. 2020. “The Hidden Divers: Sponge Harvesting in the Archaeological Record of the Mediterranean Basin.” Conference: SOAS Sponges Conference, Island of Hydra, Greece Friday 18 – Sunday 20 May 2018 at: Hydra, Greece.

Rodriguez-Alvarez, Emilio. 2018. “The Archaeology of Sponges: Middle Range Theory and Divers in Ancient Greece.” Proceedings of the International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology 14.

The Basics:

This is a list of our favorite readings on ancient and pre-industrial freediving. It is, needless to say, our list, subjective, and rather personal. There are excellent works in the next section, but those are the works we considered to be the most helpful when starting to research about this topic.

Beaulieu, Marie-Claire. 2015. The Sea in the Greek Imagination. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
 

Dawson, Kevin. 2018. Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora. Philadelphia.

Dugan, James. 1960. Man Explores the Sea. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.

Frost, Frank J. 1968. “Scyllias: Diving in Antiquity.” Greece & Rome, Second Series, 15 (2): 180–85.

Hölscher, Tonio. 2022. El nadador de Paestum: Juventud, eros y mar en la antigua Grecia. Translated by Lara Cortés Fernández.

Lindholm, Peter, and Claes E.G. Lundgren. 2009. “The Physiology and Pathophysiology of Human Breath-Hold Diving.” Journal of Applied Physiology 106: 284–92.

Maniscalco, Fabio. 1999. “Pratica ed insidie del nuoto nel mondo antico.” Mélanges de l’école française de Rome 111 (1): 145–56. https://doi.org/10.3406/mefr.1999.2073.

McManamon, Institute of Nautical Archaeology John M. 2021. Neither Letters nor Swimming””: The Rebirth of Swimming and Free-diving. Leiden ; Boston.

Academic Publications:

This is by far the largest section, so we have tried to organize it by themes. Many fields contribute to a better understanding of freediving in ancient times, so here you will find a great variety of topics to read about. When possible, the entries are hyperlinked, and lead to professional profiles of the authors that allow you to access the publications.

Ancient Sources:

Ashburner, Walter. 1909. The Rhodian Sea-Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Oleson, John Peter. 1976. “A Possible Physiological Basis for the Term Urinator, ‘Diver.’” The American Journal of Philology 97 (1): 22–29.

Archaeological Record:

Alfaro Giner, Carmen. 2010. “Fishing Nets in the Ancient World: The Historical and Archaeological Evidence.” In Ancient Nets and Fishing Gear. Proceedings of the International Workshop on “Nets and Fishing Gear in Classical Antiquity: A First Approach” Cadiz, November 15-17, 2007, Monographs of the Sagena Project:54–81. Cadiz and Aarhus: Cadiz University and Aarhus University Press.

Alfaro Giner, Carmen, and Dimitra Mylona. 2010. “Fishing for Purple Shellfish (Muricidae) in Ancient Greece: Acquisition Technology and First Steps in Purple Dye Production.” In Ancient Nets and Fishing Gear. Proceedings of the International Workshop on “Nets and Fishing Gear in Classical Antiquity: A First Approach” Cadiz, November 15-17, 2007, Monographs of the Sagena Project:149–65. Cadiz and Aarhus: Cadiz University and Aarhus University Press.

Bekker-Nielsen, Tønnes. 2002. “Fishing in the Roman World.” Classica and Mediaevalia 53: 215–33.

———. 2010. “Roman Fishing Technology in Context.” In Ancient Nets and Fishing Gear. Proceedings of the International Workshop on “Nets and Fishing Gear in Classical Antiquity: A First Approach” Cadiz, November 15-17, 2007, edited by Tønnes Bekker-Nielsen, 25–34. Monographs of the Sagena Project 2. Cadiz and Aarhus: Universidad de Cadiz and Aarhus Press.

Bekker-Nielsen, Tønnes, and Darío Bernal Casasola, eds. 2010. Ancient Nets and Fishing Gear. Proceedings of the International Workshop on “Nets and Fishing Gear in Classical Antiquity: A First Approach” Cadiz, November 15-17, 2007. Monographs of the Sagena Project 2. Cadiz and Aarhus: Universidad de Cadiz and Aarhus Press.

Crowe, Fiona, Alessandra Sperduti, Tamsin C. O’Connell, Oliver E. Craig, Karola Kirsanow, Paola Germoni, Roberto Macchiarelli, Peter Garnsey, and Luca Bondioli. 2010. “Water-Related Occupations and Diet in Two Roman Coastal Communities (Italy, First to Third Century AD): Correlation between Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Values and Auricular Exostosis Prevalence.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 142 (3): 355–66.

Galili, Ehud. 1985. “A Group of Stone Anchors from Newe-Yam.” The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration 14 (2): 143–53.

Galili, Ehud, and Baruch Rosen. 2008. “Ancient Remotely-Operated Instruments Recovered Under Water off the Israeli Coast.” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 37 (2): 283–94.

Gianfrotta, Piero. 1999. “Archeologia Subacquea e Testimonianze Di Pesca.” Mélanges de l’Ecole Française de Rome. Antiquité 111 (1): 9–36.

Lorentz, Kirsi. 2020. “External Auditory Exostoses and Early Neolithic Aquatic Resource Procurement in Cyprus: Results from Cypro-PPNB Kissonerga-Mylouthkia in Regional Context.” International Journal of Paleopathology 30 (September): 98–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2020.06.002.

Lorentz, Kirsi, and Bianca Casa. 2021. “External Auditory Exostoses, Repetitive Aquatic Activity, and Increasing Social Complexity in Chalcolithic Cyprus: Specialists of the Sea?” International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 31 (March). https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.2977.

Marzano, Annalisa. 2013. Harvesting the Sea: The Exploitation of Marine Resources in the Roman Mediterranean. First edition. Oxford Studies on the Roman Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mylona, Dimitra. 2003. “Archaeological Fish Remains in Greece: General Trends of the Research and a Gazetteer of Sites.” British School at Athens Studies 9: 193–200.

Okumura, Maria Mercedes M., Célia H. C. Boyadjian, and Sabine Eggers. 2007. “Auditory Exostoses as an Aquatic Activity Marker: A Comparison of Coastal and Inland Skeletal Remains from Tropical and Subtropical Regions of Brazil.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 132 (4): 558–67.

Powell, Judith. 1996. Fishing in the Prehistoric Aegean. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology and Literature 137. Göteborg: Paul Åströms Förlag.

Smith-Guzmán, Nicole, and Richard Cooke. 2018. “Cold-Water Diving in the Tropics? External Auditory Exostoses among the Pre-Columbian Inhabitants of Panama.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 168 (December). https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23757.

Trentacoste, Angela, Rebecca Nicholson, and Dimitra Mylona. 2018. “The Bountiful Sea: Fish Processing and Consumption in Mediterranean Antiquity.” Journal of Maritime Archaeology 13 (November). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-018-9215-1.

Voultsiadou, Eleni. 2007. “Sponges: An Historical Survey of Their Knowledge in Greek Antiquity.” Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 87: 1757–63.

Freediving Physiology:

Boussuges, A., P. Pinet, P. Thomas, E. Bergmann, J-M Sainty, and D. Vervloet. 1999. “Haemoptysis after Breath-Hold Diving.” European Respiratory Journal 13: 697–99.

Craig, Albert B. Jr. 1968. “Depth Limits of Breath-Hold Diving.” Respiratory Physiology 5: 14–22.

Ferreti, Guido. 2001. “Extreme Human Breath-Hold Diving.” European Journal of Applied Physiology 84: 254–71.

Ferreti, Guido, and Mario Costa. 2003. “Diversity in and Adaptation to Breath-Hold Diving in Humans.” Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 136A: 205–13.

Fitz-Clarke, John R. 2007. “Mechanics of Airway and Alveolar Collapse in Human Breath-Hold Diving.” Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology 159: 202–10.

———. 2009. “Lung Compression Effects on Gas Exchange in Human Breath-Hold Diving.” Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology 165: 221–28.

Visual Representations:

Berg, Ina. 2013. “Marine Creatures and the Sea in Bronze Age Greece: Ambiguities of Meaning.” Journal of Maritime Archaeology 8 (1): 1–27.

Boardman, John. 1987. “‘Very like a Whale’ Classical Sea Monsters.” In Monsters and Demons in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: Papers Presented in Honor of Edith Porada, edited by Ann E. Farkas, Prudence Oliver Harper, and Evelyn B. Harrison, 73–84. Mainz on Rhine: P. von Zabern.

Farkas, Ann E., Prudence Oliver Harper, and Evelyn B. Harrison, eds. 1987. Monsters and Demons in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: Papers Presented in Honor of Edith Porada. Mainz on Rhine: P. von Zabern.

Giesecke, Heinz-Eberhard. 1983. “The Akrotiri Ship Fresco.” The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration 12 (2): 123–43.

Hemelrijk, J. M. 1984. Caeretan Hydriae. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.

Holloway, R. Ross. 1965. “Conventions of Etruscan Painting in the Tomb of Hunting and Fishing at Tarquinii.” American Journal of Archaeology 69 (4): 341–47.

———. 2006. “The Tomb of the Diver.” American Journal of Archaeology 110 (3): 365–88.

Marangou, Lila I., ed. 1995. Ancient Greek Art from the Collection of Stavros S. Niarchos. Athens: N.P Goulandris Foundation and Museum of Cycladic Art.

Papadopoulos, John K. 2016. “The Natural History of a Caeretan Hydra.” BABESCH 91: 69–85. https://doi.org/10.2143/BAB.91.0.3175644.

Papadopoulos, John K., and Deborah Ruscillo. 2002. “A Ketos in Early Athens: An Archaeology of Whales and Sea Monsters in the Greek World.” American Journal of Archaeology 106 (2): 187–227. https://doi.org/10.2307/4126243.