Reed boat
Reed boats and rafts, along with
The earliest discovered remains from a reed boat are 7000 years old, found in Kuwait. Reed boats are depicted in early petroglyphs and were common in Ancient Egypt. A well-known example from the Book of Exodus is the ark of bulrushes in which the baby Moses was set afloat. They were also constructed from early times in Peru and Bolivia, and boats with remarkably similar design have been found in Easter Island and also New Zealand where they were made by indigenous Māori.[2] Reed boats are still used in Peru, Bolivia, Ethiopia, and until recently in Corfu. The explorations and investigations of the Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl have resulted in a better understanding of the construction and capabilities of reed boats.
History
The image on the right shows
Another site is Wadi Hammamat in Qift, Egypt, where there are drawings of Egyptian reed boats dated to 4000 BC[3]
The oldest known remnants of a boat made with reeds (and tar) are from a 7000-year-old seagoing boat found at the archaeological site of H3, Kuwait.[4]
The Ancient Egyptians built boats from
According to the
Thor Heyerdahl
In more recent years, the explorations and investigations of the Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl, 1914–2002, have resulted in a better appreciation of the construction and capabilities of reed boats.
Heyerdahl wanted to demonstrate that ancient Mediterranean or African people could have crossed the
The following year, Heyerdahl organized the building of another similar boat, the
In 1978, Heyerdahl constructed a third reed boat, the
Reed boats of Lake Titicaca
The
Reed boat craftsmen from Suriqui, a town on the Bolivian side of lake Titicaca, helped
Near the south-eastern shore of Lake Titicaca lie the ruins of the ancient city state of Tiwanaku. Tiwanaku contains monumental architecture characterized by large stones of exceptional workmanship.[13] Green andesite stones, that were used to create elaborate carvings and monoliths, originated from the Copacabana peninsula, located across Lake Titicaca.[14] One theory is that these giant andesite stones, which weigh over 40 tons were transported some 90 kilometres across Lake Titicaca on reed boats.[15]
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A floating reed island on Lake Titicaca
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Uros harvesting totora on Lake Titicaca, used traditionally to build reed boats
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Uro man pulling a boat made of totora reeds
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Uro-Indian at work in a reed boat
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Back on the floating island with the catch
Reed boats were also constructed using totora reeds on Easter Island. Intriguingly, the design of these boats closely matches the design used in Peru.[16]
Other examples
- Tule reeds, which are widespread in North America, were used to construct reed boats by various Native American groups. People from Ohlone, Coast Miwok and Bay Miwok used tule to build boats for use in the San Francisco Bay estuary.[17] Northern groups of Chumash also used tule to construct reed fishing canoes.[18]
- As well as Peru and Bolivia, reed boats are still built in Ethiopia.[19] and were used until recently in Corfu.[20]
- In the account given by .
- Mokihi are made traditionally from raupo or korari in New Zealand. Still being constructed on the Waitaki river [1] and in South Westland [2]
- Prayer boats are used in a Hindu religious festival which takes place every year on the banks of the river Ganges where thousands of people burn incense and candles on small reed boats and float them down the river at night, the boats carrying their wishes and prayers.
- In 1836, Narcissa Whitman described reed boats pulled by Indians on horse back at Snake Fort, Fort Boise.[21]
- In 2007, the reed boat Abora3, captained by the German scientist Dominique Görlitz, set out from New York to prove that other intercontinental sea journeys were possible in reed boats.
- Some coracle boats are also built out of reeds (see photo below).
Gallery
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Aymara Totora Reed Boat on display at theSmithsonian, Washington, DC
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Burial object, barque with two human figures, Gebelein, Upper Egypt. Probably Naqada II, 3400-3200 BC. Clay-covered reed, 46 cm in length.
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Model of the Tigris at the Pyramids of Güímar, Tenerife.
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Contemporary reed boats stacked on a beach in Peru
See also
- Abora (expeditions)
- The Viracocha expedition
- Balsa (ship)
- Bipod mast
- Caballito de totora
- Cyperus papyrus
- Kitín Muñoz
- Traditional fishing boats
- Totora (plant)
- Tormod Granheim
- Tule
- Xisuthros
Notes
- ^ McGrail S (1985) Towards a classification of Water transport World Archeology, 16 (3).
- ^ Barclay-Kerr, Hoturoa (12 June 2006). "Mōkihi". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
- ISBN 978-0-19-927186-3
- S2CID 36178755. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
- ^ a b c d e Thompson, Edward Maunde (1911). Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 743–745. . In
- OCLC 685104.
- ^ Odyssey xxi. 390.
- ^ Exodus Chapter 1 Pages 15-16.
- ^ Ryne, Linn. Voyages into History at Norway.
- ^ a b "Puno" (PDF). Mincetur.
- ^ a b Encyclopædia Britannica Online: Lake Titicaca. Retrieved 12 July 2007.
- ISBN 978-0-8442-4886-8.
- ^ Isbell, W. H., 2004, Palaces and Politics in the Andean Middle Horizon. in S. T. Evans and J. Pillsbury, eds., pp. 191-246. Palaces of the Ancient New World. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Washington, D.C.
- ^ Ponce Sanginés, C. and G. M. Terrazas, 1970, Acerca De La Procedencia Del Material Lítico De Los Monumentos De Tiwanaku. Publication no. 21. Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Bolivia
- ^ Harmon, P., 2002, Experimental Archaeology, Interactive Dig - Archaeology Magazine's Online Excavations web page, Archaeology Magazine .
- ^ Heiser C. B. (1974) "Totoras, Taxonomy, and Thor" Plant ScienceBulletin, 20 (2).
- ^ Jones TL and Klar K (2007) California prehistory: colonization, culture, and complexity Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
- ^ Hogan CM (2008) Morro Creek Megalithic Portal, ed. Andy Burnham.
- ^ de Graafa M, van Zwietenb PAM, Machielsb MAM, Lemmac E, Wudnehd T, Dejene E and Sibbing FA () "Vulnerability to a small-scale commercial fishery of Lake Tana's (Ethiopia) endemic Labeobarbus compared with African catfish and Nile tilapia: An example of recruitment-overfishing?" Fisheries Research, 82 (1-3) 304-318.
- ^ Sordinas A (1970) "Stone implements from northwestern Corfu", Anthropological Research Center, University of Memphis.
- ^ Eells, Myron (1909). Marcus Whitman, pathfinder and patriot. Alice Harriman Company. Retrieved 2009-12-10.
References
- Swall, Corinne; Nuyens III, Louis (2003). Tule reed boat workbook : a voyage of adventure. Kentfield, CA: Mother Lode Musical Theatre, Watershed Preservation Network.
External links
- World of Boats (EISCA) Collection ~ Vietnamese Basket Boat
- Papyrus reed boat or "tankwa", Lake Tana by Majestic Moose. Flickr, April 2008, retrieved March 26, 2010
- Gobustan from "Window to Baku"
- The Rock Engravings of Gobustan
- Porfirio Limachi, reed ship builder
- The Viracocha Expedition, construction photo
- Tule Boat Photo Gallery
- Tule reed canoe, Ohlone, launched on Lake Merced, San Francisco
- Tule reed canoe, Modoc