Question

Essentials of Oceanography: Alan P Trujillo Harold V Thurman

1. (a) What sort of boats did the earliest known Pacific navigators (the Polynesians) use?

(b) Why is it surprising to archaeologists that the Polynesians settled in Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand (hint: look at the map in Fig. 1.6)

1. In 1947, anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl sailed a light wooden raft called the Kon Tiki.

(a) Where did it go and what was he trying to prove?

(b) What evidence goes against Heyerdal’s idea?

Answer 1

1. The boats that were used by Polynesian navigators were outrigger canoes or the double hulled canoes. Most commonly they used the double hulled canoes which were lashed side by side and two canoes were joined parallel to each other. The space between two canoes was used by the navigators to store food, hunting materials and nets used for catching fishes. The Polynesian navigators sailed and navigated through water years even before the Europeans started their voyage. They crafted their own canoes using the raw material from the Island and some stone tools and set out on the open sea and ocean. They had no scientific instruments for navigation and hence navigated based on the stars and nature signal.
2. It is surprising that the Polynesians settled in Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand as these were some of the most remote archipelagos in the world and reaching these places were practically very difficult. There were no prior human habitats and being the first settlers, it must be difficult to manage and utilize the resources. It is also difficult for the archeologist to believe because in places like Easter Island after the colonization , the civilization collapsed due to unfavorable environmental conditions.