In Search of the World's Most Ancient Mariners Export

@article{Balter2007a, abstract = {We humans are terrestrial animals, yet we spend a lot of time gazing wistfully over bodies of water. We flock to the seashore or the lakeside at the slightest sign of mild weather and celebrate the romance of the sea in art and literature. Early seafaring was central to the spread of civilization, and today thousands of vessels ply the world's oceans, searching for fish and hauling billions of tons of cargo. Despite the importance of seafaring to culture, however, archaeologists are not sure how, when, and why humans first ventured into the oceans. The earliest known boats, hollowed out logs found in the Netherlands and in France, are at most 10,000 years old. And the earliest indirect evidence for sea crossings in Europe--human occupation of Cyprus and the Greek island of Milos--dates to only 12,000 to 13,000 years ago. Yet ancient archaeological sites in present-day Australia, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian islands suggest sea crossings at least 45,000 years ago, soon after modern humans first left Africa. At a meeting here last month,* three dozen archaeologists and maritime historians sifted through the evidence for seafaring through the ages. They debated, sometimes sharply, whether the earliest mariners crossed the sea purposely or by accident. "There is a danger in accepting either of these extreme positions," says William Keegan, an anthropologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. "But I have no problem believing that people who were exploiting coastal resources had developed the ability to cross the water gaps in question by 50,000 years ago."}, author = {Balter, Michael}, citeulike-article-id = {1806367}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.318.5849.388}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/318/5849/388}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17947562}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=17947562}, day = {19}, doi = {10.1126/science.318.5849.388}, journal = {Science}, keywords = {archeology, out-of-africa, southern-route}, month = {October}, number = {5849}, pages = {388--389}, posted-at = {2007-10-22 14:06:22}, priority = {2}, title = {In Search of the World's Most Ancient Mariners}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.318.5849.388}, volume = {318}, year = {2007} }

TY - JOUR ID - Balter2007a L3 - citeulike-article-id:1806367 N2 - We humans are terrestrial animals, yet we spend a lot of time gazing wistfully over bodies of water. We flock to the seashore or the lakeside at the slightest sign of mild weather and celebrate the romance of the sea in art and literature. Early seafaring was central to the spread of civilization, and today thousands of vessels ply the world's oceans, searching for fish and hauling billions of tons of cargo. Despite the importance of seafaring to culture, however, archaeologists are not sure how, when, and why humans first ventured into the oceans. The earliest known boats, hollowed out logs found in the Netherlands and in France, are at most 10,000 years old. And the earliest indirect evidence for sea crossings in Europe--human occupation of Cyprus and the Greek island of Milos--dates to only 12,000 to 13,000 years ago. Yet ancient archaeological sites in present-day Australia, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian islands suggest sea crossings at least 45,000 years ago, soon after modern humans first left Africa. At a meeting here last month,* three dozen archaeologists and maritime historians sifted through the evidence for seafaring through the ages. They debated, sometimes sharply, whether the earliest mariners crossed the sea purposely or by accident. "There is a danger in accepting either of these extreme positions," says William Keegan, an anthropologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. "But I have no problem believing that people who were exploiting coastal resources had developed the ability to cross the water gaps in question by 50,000 years ago." IS - 5849 JF - Science EP - 389 TI - In Search of the World's Most Ancient Mariners VL - 318 SP - 388 KW - archeology KW - out-of-africa KW - southern-route AU - Balter, Michael PY - 2007/10/19/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.318.5849.388 ER -