(September 28, 2011 at 9:36 am)Rhythm Wrote: Oh yeah, well aware of that. Also aware that boats made of reeds (for example) can make an ocean crossing. Not saying it's beyond the realm of possibility. I'm just trying to go through the ideas put forward and pin down the kind of evidence that would give strong support to the theory. I did dig more on the hypothesis and they do fine bone awls, so, in theory, they could be used to produce skin boats. The reason I was assuming dugouts is that they are the oldest boats we have. Now we're proposing a technologically advanced culture without any evidence for it. Just trying to keep the number of claims that would require revision of our current understanding to a minimum.
There are a number of reasons that we currently believe dugouts to be the oldest boats. Largely that these are the sorts of boats that we have earliest evidence for. Going further, building a skin boat requires at least some understanding of displacement and waterproofing while building a dugout requires only that the builder understand that logs float. We would expect to find a frame for a skin boat somewhere, even going back that far. We have arrow shafts, backpack frames, shoes frames, the tools used to make them. Not suggesting that it's impossible, only mentioning that it would be nice to have some evidence. I do understand that we're talking archaeology by diver for the most part here, but we do find these sites (couple in FL, in underground rivers btw). So asking for evidence of such technology isn't beyond the pale.
Given the results of genetic sequencing and the evidence we do have available to us, a European origin for early settlers of the Americas is going to require more than conjecture and possibility. That's all.
I tend to think the first manufactured watercraft would be some configuration of skin bladder and animal sinew because evidence seem to suggest humans have made use of animal parts in manufactuering for far longer than bulk wooden parts.
