Palaeolithic seafaring in East Asia: testing the bamboo raft hypothesis

The earliest colonisation of oceanic islands by Homo sapiens occurred ~50 000-30 000 years ago in the Western Pacific, yet how this was achieved remains a matter of debate. With a focus on East Asia, the research presented here tests the hypothesis that bamboo rafts were used for these early maritim...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antiquity 2019-12, Vol.93 (372), p.1424-1441
Main Authors: Kaifu, Yousuke, Lin, Chih-hsing, Goto, Akira, Ikeya, Nobuyuki, Yamada, Masahisa, Chiang, Wei-Chuan, Fujita, Masaki, Hara, Koji, Hawira, Toiora, Huang, Kuo-en, Huang, Chih-huei, Kubota, Yoshimi, Liu, Chiung-hsi, Miura, Kumino, Miyazawa, Yasumasa, Monden, Osamu, Muramatsu, Minoru, Sung, Yunkai, Suzuki, Katsuaki, Tanaka, Nobuyuki, Tsang, Cheng-hwa, Uchida, Saki, Wen, Pi-ling
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeology
Bamboo
Boats
Computer simulation
Excavation
Historic artifacts
Hypotheses
Islands
Migration
Museums
Paleolithic
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The earliest colonisation of oceanic islands by Homo sapiens occurred ~50 000-30 000 years ago in the Western Pacific, yet how this was achieved remains a matter of debate. With a focus on East Asia, the research presented here tests the hypothesis that bamboo rafts were used for these early maritime migrations. The authors review the evidence for Palaeolithic seafaring in East Asia as the context for an experimental archaeology project to build two bamboo watercraft. Sea trials demonstrate the unsuitability of bamboo, at least in East Asia, indicating that more sophisticated and durable vessels would have been required to traverse the Kuroshio Current.
ISSN:0003-598X
1745-1744
DOI:10.15184/aqy.2019.90