Mediterranean Ocean Voyaging 100,000+ Years Ago

[JustHank]

Wow, this seems like a pretty big discovery...wonder how many hulls they had 100,000+ years ago on the sea?

Discovery Dates Seafaring 100,000-Plus Years Ago - NYTimes.com

Synopsis:

"Early humans, possibly even prehuman ancestors, appear to have been going to sea much longer than anyone had ever suspected.




That is the startling implication of discoveries made the last two summers on the Greek island of Crete. Stone tools found there, archaeologists say, are at least 130,000 years old, which is considered strong evidence for the earliest known seafaring in the Mediterranean and cause for rethinking the maritime capabilities of prehuman cultures." - NY Times

[anjou]

I have my doubts to the authenticity of the stone tool finds

The stones may well have been worked 100,000 years ago and used as tools in another place beofre being transported to the Med in the last 10 -15 000 years

[Benjamaphone]

anjou, I doubt that people would be using stone tool technology that was over 100, 000 years old. No, even stone tools develop at a rate that would make them useless for the succeeding generations. If the tools were found there, they were either made there or brought there by people with direct contact to those who made them. If the tools were brought by a more recent human arrival, they would have been reworked, sharpened perhaps? A person living 15,000 years ago would look at a hand axe like my 10 year cousin would look at record player. Why would I use that when I have a 32 gig ipod touch? Besides, the article says the tool technology matches 700,000 thousand year old specifications! Imagine being an advanced human with complex stone tool flinting abilities, cultural support systems and hundreds of thousands of years accumlated tool technology and then picking up a crude, heavy, dull hand axe and saying, "gee, this axe is great! I should bring it on this long dangerous boat trip!"

I think this is a great discovery that might shine some light on our past. I don't find it surprising that seafaring technology is much older than is generally thought....people have been people for a lot longer than 100,000 years. People are smart and cultures develop relatively quickly, allowing for specialization in many environments including the sea.

What would really be surprising is if the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis ( Aquatic ape hypothesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ) is proved correct! That would be a total mind bender!!

[MichaelC]

If you look at the disparity between South American site dates and the availability of a 'land bridge', it becomes immediately apparent that people tgraveled down that coast by boats. Boats are really very simple to make. You really do not need hi tech to make one, or even very many smarts. And it is quickly clear that I can carry ten times the volume and weight in an easily handled boat than I can carry on my back. In my 17 foot Viking style boat I can carry a half ton of stuff [people and goods], while anything more than 50 pounds and my back hurts. Dugouts and umiaks are easy to make with stone tool technology. And BTW, you can see Crete from Turkey on a very clear day. If a man can see it, he will go there.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by anjou

... The stones may well have been worked 100,000 years ago and used as tools in another place beofre being transported to the Med in the last 10 -15 000 years

Not according to the context:

“... the team analyzed the layer bearing the tools and determined that the soil had been on the surface 130,000 to 190,000 years ago ...

... Dr. Runnels suggested that the tools could be at least twice as old as the geologic layers. Dr. Strasser said they could be as much as 700,000 years old ... ”