Abstract
Abstract
Highlights
The development of seafaring in the Late Pleistocene opened up new environments for Homo sapiens
Through the experimental construction and sea trialling of bamboo rafts, we aim to assess whether such crafts could have played a role in early East Asian seafaring, or whether other types of seagoing vessels were required for such journeys
Of similar date is an assemblage of obsidian artefacts recovered from Kozushima, a small island located approximately 38km from Honshu during the Late Pleistocene (Figure 1); the obsidian was sourced from Honshu and the assemblage can be regarded as the world’s oldest secure evidence of a planned maritime voyage (Ikeya 2015)
Summary
The development of seafaring in the Late Pleistocene opened up new environments for Homo sapiens. Most researchers surmise that bamboo rafts of some form were used for these earliest maritime migrations based on the availability of local materials and the inferred undeveloped wood-working technologies required to make logboats (Birdsell 1977: 143; Thorne & Raymond 1989: 39; McGrail 2001: 288; Anderson 2010: 6; O’Connor 2010: 48) The earliest remains of logboats in East Asia are dated to 8000–7500 cal BC in China, Korea and Japan (Figure 3; Jiang & Liu 2005; Lee 2014; Okimatsu & Hattori 2015). A simpler form of such tools—the edge-ground stone axe—has an even longer history in Japan (Figure 4), with the oldest examples dating to c. 38 000 cal BP (Habu 2010; Tsutsumi 2012)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
