Yosuke Kaifu and his team investigated the seafaring abilities of Stone-Age humans, demonstrating how they traversed from Taiwan to Japan's Ryukyu Islands over 30,000 years ago. Their research, published in Science Advances, involved experimental voyages to replicate the tools and techniques used by ancient navigators. Despite challenges with initial raft designs, their work shows that these ancient journeys were far more remarkable than previously understood, as they crossed formidable ocean currents like the Kuroshio with limited resources available at the time.
Archaeologists have 'drawn lines' showing how Stone-Age seafarers could have discovered the southernmost islands of Japan, travelling northeast from Taiwan.
The study highlights that 'these journeys are definitely much more epic than we give them credit for', says Eleanor Scerri.
Palaeolithic sites in the Ryukyu Islands... contain human remains and stone tools dating back to more than 30,000 years ago.
Researchers instead try to recreate voyages experimentally, using the kinds of tools and materials that humans were known to have at the time.
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