How Stone Age Seafarers Navigated One of Earth’s Most Powerful Currents: A Dive into Ancient Maritime Skills

Archaeologists believe that humans reached the Ryukyu Islands, located off Japan’s southwestern coast, between 35,000 and 27,500 years ago. The big question is: how did they make such a difficult journey, particularly across one of the strongest ocean currents in the world?

To find answers, scientists decided to reenact this ancient journey. They built a dugout canoe using tools that were used during the Upper Paleolithic era, roughly 50,000 to 10,000 years ago. This team successfully crossed the 68.4-mile-wide strait between Taiwan and Yonaguni Island, navigating through the demanding Kuroshio current in about 45 hours. Their effort suggests that people could have traveled from Taiwan to the Ryukyu Islands long ago.

“Our canoe was 7.5 meters long and built with stone axes,” said the researchers. “It was both fast and sturdy enough for this journey.” They published their findings in Science Advances, emphasizing that this type of sea travel required skilled paddlers and advanced navigational abilities.

Studying ancient seafaring is tricky because most prehistoric boats made of wood have decayed over time. Without tangible artifacts, researchers turn to experimental archaeology—essentially, they recreate past methods to understand them. Yousuke Kaifu, an anthropologist at the University of Tokyo, and his team have been exploring these ancient journeys since 2013. Before succeeding in 2019, they tried using reed and bamboo rafts, but these didn’t survive the Kuroshio Current. Finally, they built a canoe from a hollowed cedar tree with a fire-charred interior, designed to carry a crew of five.

The researchers explain that they based their designs on what little archaeological and ethnographic evidence exists from similar time periods. They also factored in the materials that would have been available and what craftspeople could realistically build with their technology.

Interestingly, this research can also highlight what prehistoric life was like. The success of these expeditions depended heavily on environmental factors, such as starting from calm bays and using the stars for navigation. In fact, simulations suggested that similar boats could have made the same journey from other areas in Taiwan.

Despite the notion that ancient peoples were "primitive," this study shows that they achieved impressive feats with the technology they had. It challenges the stereotype of prehistoric people as less capable. As Kaifu noted, “They accomplished something extraordinary with their skills and tools.”

These hands-on research projects are part of a growing trend that seeks to fill gaps in our understanding of ancient human life. With the right conditions and knowledge, our ancestors were adept explorers, much like we are today.

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Archaeology,experimental archaeology,Human migration,prehistory