Chine bLog

It has been an exciting few weeks for anyone interested in the origins of boats and boating, as we are here at Chine bLog. It turns out that humans may have discovered the ways of the maritime life long before science generally believed. First, I read a great article in the next to last issue of Discover Magazine titled "Did Humans Colonize the World by Boat? Research suggests our ancestors traveled the oceans 70,000 years ago." You can imagine me sitting upright when I flipped to this piece. It follows the research of Jon Erlandson, an archaeologist with the University of Oregon, who has identified dart heads along the California coast dating to 12,000 years ago. They are similar to others found along the Northern Pacific Rim, the oldest being from 15,600 years ago in Japan. They seem designed for hunting marine prey. Erlandson is building a case that the earliest Americans arrived here by boat, hopping along the coast and kelp forests. Wow.

It gets better. Other research suggests older maritime migrations in Southeast Asia (30,000 years ago) and Australia (50,000 years ago). Early humans may have even crossed the Red Sea coming out of Africa 70,000 years ago. Much of the research also uses projected maps of ancient coastlines. It turns out that, even with lower sea levels during the Ice Age, there were several significant straits to navigate to get form Southeast Asia to Australia. We have known ancestors of the current Aborigines were there 50,000 years ago. It always struck me that they must have gotten there by boat - I mean could the sea levels really be so low? It turns out my naive intuition may not have been far off.

While still chewing on this delicious piece of research, I struck, literally days later, a posting by "aqlunafoo" in the Proa_File Yahoo! Group. It references additional research, reported on Science Daily, pointing to a dramatic reworking of Southeast Asian settlement. Scientists had thought humans migrated to Southeast Asian islands from Taiwan 4,000 years ago. DNA studies, however, indicate that Island Southeast Asia was populated 10,000 years earlier than this and that, in fact, migration into Taiwan from these islands may have been the case. "aqlunafoo" suggests the trimaran is the original boat that sailed to Taiwan, and the proa was developed somewhere between Taiwan, the Bismarks and Santa Cruz." Good stuff.

And there's more...

Jangadas from Wikipedia via Indigenous Boats

Many thanks to our friend Bob Holtzman over at Indigenous Boats for his nice posts on Brazilian Jangadas, traditional craft from Northeastern Brazil. I encourage you to read both: one and two. I am digging this blog - great substance here:

It is a sailing raft built of pueba logs, lashed and pegged together, and sporting a rig with quite a large mailsail and (from what I can tell from the book's photos), sometimes a tiny jib. The mast angles forward very sharply, and the boom angles upward at the stern, so that the mainsail takes the shape of an isosceles triangle resting on its apex. There's a surprisingly sophisticated 11-position mast step that allows the mast's angle to be changed by a considerable amount, no doubt shifting the amount of weather/lee helm, but otherwise, the jangada is about as simple as a craft can be. The jangadieros, or jangada fishermen, take these boats 30 miles offshore in search of market fish, with the logs awash the whole way. Steering is by way of an oar.

Many thanks, Indigenous Boats!

Location: Sao Luis, Brazil

Our good friend Gavin over at intheboatshed.net has score another great find. Thanks muchly, Gavin, for introducing us to Bob Holtzman and his new (I take it) blog "Indigenous Boats - Small Craft Outside the Western Tradition." All of a sudden we find our selves with lots of company here, but heck, if it helps elevate the treasures to be found in other waters, bring it on.