This book aims to lay down the theoretical framework that will serve as the basis for a future research project on prehistoric watercraft technology. In order to achieve this, an account of the development of the architectural project of naval construction in prehistory is carried out through an analysis of its four basic constraints: socioeconomic constraints, nautical constraints, material constraints, symbolic constraints and perhaps also a fifth, consisting of technological and cultural heritage. It is concluded that these constraints cannot be analysed separately and that they are an inherent part of the architectural project. Likewise, it is proposed that, because of this reality, boats and ships were a key element of sociocultural evolution and, therefore, played an important role in the development of social complexity throughout prehistory.