Experimental Archeology: 8000 year old dug out canoe on display

AGI ^ | Sept. 24, 2005 | AGI

[FairOpinion]

Rome, Italy, Sept 24 - There is a star attraction at the International Conference of Experimental Archaeology which opened today in Anguillara. It's a dug out canoe built 8,000 years ago by primitive people who had set up camp along the shores of Lake Bracciano.

9.5 m long, according to initial studies, the canoe will enable us to understand the naval construction techniques of this type of craft which, in those days, could also go out into the open sea. The boat, which was found last summer near what is believed to have been a shipyard, is unfinished.

Said Carmelo Capone, the councillor responsible for tourism and productive activities in Anguillara, "At the moment, the canoe has been put inside a reliquary full of special liquid to conserve it. The important date is when it's going to be restored.

It will be given by the Monuments and Fine Arts Office to a firm that specialises in this sort of work, which will be done on the premises. Even visitors and scholars will be able to see the techniques during the entire period it is being restored.

"As far as Anguillara is concerned", Capone pointed out, "this is an important objective which will open up a future prospective for creating a tourist-cultural attraction that has all the fascination of the pre-historical period".

This exceptional discovery also opens up a new prospective for researching the peoples who lived in central Italy during the Neolithic period and in the bronze age much earlier than the Etruscan period. In fact, it is known that in the second half of the 5th millennium before Christ, some people coming from the sea, went up the Arrone river, the effluent of Lake Bracciano, where Anguillara Sabazia is located, to reach and then settle below what is today the headland of the place called "La Marmotta". Moreover, it happened before the Neolithic settlement that until now has been found on the shores of only one lake in the whole of Europe.

In fact, some villages around lakes in Germany, France and Switzerland only came into being up to ten centuries later. (AGI) -

[FairOpinion]

Interesting that people were able to make canoes that long ago.

[FairOpinion]

GGG PING

[konaice]

Interesting that people were able to make canoes that long ago.

Why would you say that? 8000 years is not that long ago.

Remember that the Pyramids were built around 3104 B.C, so 3100BC to 2005AD = about 5000 years ago.

So this boat dated to about 3000 years before the Pyramids. Its not supprising to me aht 3000 years before the pyrimids people already knew how to make tools capable of hollowing out a log.

[KarinG1]

But that's 56,000 in dog years.

[spinestein]

They were no dummies.

I remember reading an article about 20 years ago in which the author said that he tried to teach himself how to make stone knives and arrowheads like the ones that he discovered as an archaeologist. After several years of trying, he could make only crude versions of tools that weren't up to the quality of the originals made tens of thousands of years ago.

On numerous occasions, I've also tried to strike decent cores from flint which are then supposed to be used to make the actual tools. I couldn't even make one good piece after hours of trying with a pile of flint. And these are just primitive stone tools.

[Jagdgewehr]

Trevignano lies on the northern shore of lake Bracciano or Sabatino. The lake is almost circular with a diameter of about 9 kilometres and is 170 metres deep in the centre. A sewage system and a strict control of the use of pesticides in the surrounding area make the water so clean that it acts as an emergency reservoir for Rome. For this reason motor boats are forbidden, making the lake ideal for sailing, canoeing and windsurfing.

[pcottraux]

Yeah, but I'll bet it doesn't float that well.

[dsc]

If modern man appeared 100-150k years ago, and they were as smart as we are, why wouldn't they figure stuff out?

I'm betting that we keep finding older and older civilizations that were startlingly advanced.

[Quick Shot]

Bet was used to carry spaghetti to market from the spaghetti orchards.

[SunkenCiv]

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[ASA Vet]

Spaghetti isn't grown in orchards, it's a vine grown veggie.

[blam]

"Bet was used to carry spaghetti to market from the spaghetti orchards."

Marco Polo didn' bring noodles from China until the 1200's AD.

[blam]

"9.5 m long, according to initial studies, the canoe will enable us to understand the naval construction techniques of this type of craft which, in those days, could also go out into the open sea. The boat, which was found last summer near what is believed to have been a shipyard, is unfinished."

Wonder why they would spend the time/effort to build an 'ocean-going' vessel on the edge of a lake.

[Quick Shot]

because it easier to make the canoe where it falls than to move the tree to the ocean.

[blam]

"because it easier to make the canoe where it falls than to move the tree to the ocean."

Good point but, why not find a tree close to the ocean?

I'm thinking that maybe that lake was connected to the ocean at that time?

[TXnMA]

I couldn't even make one good piece after hours of trying with a pile of flint.

~~~~~~~~~~~

My specialty in archaeology is experimental lithic technology (AKA "flintknapping").

Stone toolmaking is far from a "lost art" -- as shown by this page from the "2005 Flintknapping Calendar ©":

(Click the photo for a larger view.)

Sounds like you could use a few pointers in the physics of force vectors and the propagation of shockwaves in vitreous materials.

If you are anywhere near here, I will be doing a flintknapping demo/lecture as part of Texas Archeology Month, next Saturday, October 1. The demo will be at the (free) Texarkana Archaeology Fair in Spring Lake Park, in Texarkana, TX -- all day long.

I will be demonstrating and lecturing on the basic tools and process steps, and another knapper will be turning out finished pieces like the ones shown in the photo.

Identify yourself to me as a FReeper, and I will let you take a few (coached) whacks. I can almost guarantee you will be able to strike beautiful, thin, razor-sharp "blades" from a core -- with just a bit of instruction.

TXnMA
Texas Archeological Steward
(Yes, TX officially spells it without the "ae" diphthong...)

[RightWhale]

could also go out into the open sea

Any boat can go out into the open sea. Getting back is the trick.

[TXnMA]

The invitation in #17 is open to all interested FReepers. (A FReepmail telling me you intend to come would be appreciated...)

TXnMA

[Dustbunny]

Experimental Archeology: 8000 year old dug out canoe on display

Interesting that people were able to make canoes that long ago.

Probably even longer ago than that, we just have not found the remains yet.