by From Will Dunham
(Reuters) -Our species were created about 300,000 years ago in Africa and worldwide worldwide and finally reached some of the most remote places on earth. Our ancestors overlooked geographical obstacles, including the treacherous ocean expanses. But how did you do that with only rudimentary technologies that are available to you?
Scientists have now undertaken an experimental journey over a route of the East China Sea and from Ushibi in East Taiwan to the Japanese Yonaguni island on a shelter paddled on a shelter to demonstrate how such a trip was achieved about 30,000 years ago when people spread to different Pacific Islands.
The researchers simulated methods of paleolithic people would have used replicas of tools from this prehistoric period such as an ax and a cutting device, which is called adze to shape the 25-foot-length (7.5-meter) canoe with the name Sugime called Sugime with the name Sugime from a Japanese cedar tree from the Japan Peninsula.
A crew of four men and a woman paddled the canoe on a trip that lasted more than 45 hours, around 225 km over the open sea and fought against one of the strongest sea currents in the world, the Kuroshio. The crew endured extreme tiredness and took a break for several hours, while the canoe drifted at sea, managed to complete a safe crossing to Yonaguni.
Just like prehistoric people, the voyagers from the sun and stars and the direction of the ocean swelling navigated, although they were accompanied by two escort vehicles for safety reasons. Yonaguni is part of the Ryukyu chain of islands, which extend from Kyushu, the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan, to Taiwan.
The researchers previously failed with attempted intersections with reed rafts and then with bamboo rafts, where they found that they were too slow, inadequate and cannot overcome the strong sea flow.
“With the project with many mistakes, we learned the difficulties of the ocean, and this experience gave us deep respect for our paleolithic ancestors,” said Yousuke Kaifu, who published the study by the University of Tokyo anthropologist on Wednesday.
“We found that the Paleolithic could cross the sea with the strong sea flow if they had Halskanus and clever, experienced paddlers and navigators. -Boot was administered.
Archaeological evidence shows that people were first crossed by Taiwan to some of the Ryukyu Islands about 30,000 years ago, including Okinawa. But scientists had confused how they could do this with the rudimentary technology of time – no cards, no metal tools and only primitive vessels. And the Kuroshio current, which was comparable to the Gulf Stream from Mexico in strength, presented a certain challenge.
The investigation took place in the vein of the famous Kon-Tiki expedition from 1947, in which the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl went on a much longer journey through the Pacific to the Polynesian Islands. Heyerdahl wanted to show how prehistoric people from America could have colonized Polynesia.
“His theory is now counted through a number of evidence, but it was a great process at the time. Compared to the time of the Kon-Tiki, we have more archaeological and other evidence to” build realistic models of prehistoric trips, “said Kaifu.
The researchers in an accompanying study published in the same magazine used simulations of sea media medication between Taiwan and Yonaguni 30,000 years ago to examine whether such a crossing was available at a time when the Kuroshio was even more powerful than today.
“As our Paleo-Ocean model simulation showed, it was possible in antiquity to cross the Kuroshio, and I think they achieved it,” said the physical oceanographer and student author Yu-Lin Chang from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology.
“However, the marine conditions were very different. Therefore, the elderly have come across unpredictable weather conditions on their journey, which could have leaded to failure,” added Chang.
(Dunham reporting in Washington, editing of Rosalba O’Brien)
