The “pan-shaped” Early Cycladic utensils from Skyros island have drawn the attention and encouraged the scientific efforts of many archaeologists and other scholars both for their peculiar shape and use and for the incised representations of oar-propelled ships on one of their two sides. The ships represented on the “pan-shaped” utensils from Skyros are the product of a rich, naval, Aegean tradition, over four hundred years long. They are not, that is, primitive vessels, but ships very advanced for their time. The study of the aerodynamics and hydrodynamics of the ships decorating Early Cycladic utensils can be carried out, if the following important factors are taken into consideration:
– The evolution of shipbuilding and of the shape of ships in antiquity.
– The technological achievements of the Cycladites during the Early Cycladic II period.
– The propelling device of these ships.
– The needs served by these ships.
– The special geographic and weather conditions prevailing in the Aegean Sea.
– Finally, the general characteristics of Early Cycladic art.
