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Friday, November 02, 2007

Ancient sea travellers had heads in the clouds

File under 'lost skills':
 
"...Its Hawaiian provenance confirms what Pacific peoples have long been
told through folklore - that their ancestors were among the most
skilled navigators in history.

Archaeologists and historians have likened their ability to find new
islands in the vastness of the Pacific as akin to sending a rocket
into space and hoping it will hit a planet.

Dr Marshall Weisler, of the University of Queensland, said the journey
between Hawaii and Tahiti "now stands as the longest uninterrupted
maritime voyage in human prehistory".

He said it was "mind-boggling" how Polynesian settlers found their way
from one speck of land to another and back again, colonising the last
uninhabited parts of the planet.

They are believed to have used signs such as tides, the presence of
driftwood and the flight of seabirds, which return to roost on land at
night.

They also closely observed the underside of clouds, which reflect
whatever lies beneath them - a darker tinge indicates the presence of
land..."

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