posted
In a couple of old threads images of boats in the rock art of Sahara are discussed. Unfortunately many of the pictures in those old threads are now gone. In one thread a poster specifically ask for pics of such boats.
When I saw the threads I remembered having seen at least one such boat somewhere. Finally I found it, it is from Tadrart in Tassili National Park, Algeria.
I remember that Thor Heyerdahl many years ago sailed his reed boat Tigris in the Indian Ocean trying to prove ancient maritime contacts between Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indus valley maybe already 3000 BC. Unfortunately the political situation in the area hindered him to fulfill his voyage, so in protest he and his crew burned Tigris.
Reed boats with sails are known from Mesopotamia already around 5500 BC. It is interesting to think about early contacts between Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Indus valley.
Here is an article about these early boats
quote: Mesopotamian reed boats constitute the earliest known evidence for deliberately constructed sailing ships, dated to the early Neolithic Ubaid culture of Mesopotamia, about 5500 B.C.E. The small, masted Mesopotamian boats are believed to have facilitated minor but significant long-distance trade between the emerging villages of the Fertile Crescent and the Arabian Neolithic communities of the Persian Gulf. Boatmen followed the Tigris and Euphrates rivers down into the Persian Gulf and along the coasts of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar. The first evidence of Ubaidian boat traffic into the Persian Gulf was recognized in the mid-20th century when examples of Ubaidian pottery were found in scores of coastal Persian gulf sites.
However, it is best to keep in mind that the history of sea-faring is quite ancient. Archaeologists are convinced that both the human settlement of Australia (about 50,000 years ago) and the Americas (about 20,000 years ago) must have been assisted by some sort of watercraft to assist moving people along the coastlines and across large bodies of water. It is quite likely that we will find older ships than those of Mesopotamia. Scholars are not even necessarily certain that Ubaid boat-making originated there. But at present, the Mesopotamian boats are the oldest known.
Even up in my part of the world some early signs of boats are known as the 10 000 years old paddle oar from Star Carr in England, and of course the 9000 years old log boat from Pesse in Holland. One can also see that people reached islands in the Baltic ocean (like Oeland and Gotland) already in the Mesolithic about 10 000 years ago. But that is another story.
In the future they will probably find even older traces of boats and seafaring on all continents.
-------------------- Once an archaeologist, always an archaeologist Posts: 2683 | From: Sweden | Registered: Mar 2020
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By the way is there any good book, some comprehensive textbook, about ancient wet Sahara, its cultures, its fauna and flora and it´s phases? It seems to be a fascinating chapter in Africa´s past.
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How nice it would be if one found something like this during an archaeological dig or survey:
The oldest image of a boat, El Salha, Sudan (7050 - 6820 BC)
-------------------- Once an archaeologist, always an archaeologist Posts: 2683 | From: Sweden | Registered: Mar 2020
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^ That's a good question. I'm sure there has to be a few books out there on the topic. I myself have only come across chapters on the topic in books on African prehistory or papers on Holocene Sahara.
Posts: 26236 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Archeopteryx: ^^ Interesting articles.
I remember that Thor Heyerdahl many years ago sailed his reed boat Tigris in the Indian Ocean trying to prove ancient maritime contacts between Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indus valley maybe already 3000 BC. Unfortunately the political situation in the area hindered him to fulfill his voyage, so in protest he and his crew burned Tigris.
In the future they will probably find even older traces of boats and seafaring on all continents.
African Tule boats.
Saqqara (Middle Egypt), Tomb of Kagemni – Mastaba 25 (Mastaba of the vizier Kagemni; Old Kingdom, early 6th dynasty, after 2347 BC).
Posts: 22234 | From: האם אינכם כילדי הכרית אלי בני ישראל | Registered: Nov 2010
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