Abstract

The earliest colonization of oceanic islands by Homo sapiens occurred about 50,000–30,000 years ago in the tropical and temperate waters of the western Pacific, yet how this was achieved remains unclear. Under the experimental archaeology program called ‘Holistic Reenactment Project of Voyages 30,000 Years Ago’, we designed, built, and tested reed-bundle rafts as one of the candidate seagoing crafts in Paleolithic East Asia. Two rafts made by the best locally available reed, Typha domingensis, showed excellent stability and buoyancy at sea, but lacked mobility, speed, and durability required to cross fast-flowing seas in the Ryukyu Islands, southwest Japan. This supports the hypothesis that the first Ryukyu islanders used more sophisticated watercrafts to reach these islands about 35,000 years ago.

摘要

大约 50,000 至 30,000 年前，智人对海洋岛屿的最早殖民发生在西太平洋的热带和温带水域，但如何实现这一目标仍不清楚。在名为“30,000 年前航行的整体重演项目”的实验考古计划下，我们设计、建造和测试了芦苇束筏，作为旧石器时代东亚的候选航海工艺品之一。由当地最好的芦苇Typha domingensis制成的两个木筏，在海上表现出出色的稳定性和浮力，但缺乏穿越日本西南部琉球群岛湍急海域所需的机动性、速度和耐用性。这支持了大约 35,000 年前第一批琉球岛民使用更先进的船只到达这些岛屿的假设。