Establishing the efficacy of reed-bundle rafts in the paleolithic colonization of the Ryukyu Islands

Abstract

The earliest colonization of oceanic islands by Homo sapiens occurred about 50,000–30,000 years ago in the tropical and temperate waters of the western Pacific, yet how this was achieved remains unclear. Under the experimental archaeology program called ‘Holistic Reenactment Project of Voyages 30,000 Years Ago’, we designed, built, and tested reed-bundle rafts as one of the candidate seagoing crafts in Paleolithic East Asia. Two rafts made by the best locally available reed, Typha domingensis, showed excellent stability and buoyancy at sea, but lacked mobility, speed, and durability required to cross fast-flowing seas in the Ryukyu Islands, southwest Japan. This supports the hypothesis that the first Ryukyu islanders used more sophisticated watercrafts to reach these islands about 35,000 years ago.

Keywords:

• Pleistocene
• watercraft
• maritime migration
• western Pacific
• Japan

Acknowledgements

We thank Kumino Miura, Kenji Kawajiri, Masahiro Uchida, Nobuyuki Ikeya, Ikunori Suzawa, Osamu Monden, Kyoko Miyazawa, Ryusei Irikedamoto, Maki Hirano, Tomonari Horie, Yujin Ikema, Miki Nakaide, Wataru Obu, Jun Sato, Masahiro Tanaka, Shinpei Yamaguchi, Yoshiyuki Akatsuka, Masayuki Ikari, Takayasu Obuchi, Hiroyuki Oka, Takahumi Shimizu, Koutaro Tanaka, Saki Uchida, Toiora Hawira, Katsuaki Suzuki, Osamu Kosuge, Kihachiro Maja, Hideaki Takakuwa, Toshinori Nagahama, Yu Yonaha, Keita Matsuda, Rie Higashihama, Asako Tanaka, Tamotsu Uesedo, Miho Uesedo, and people at the Yonaguni and Iriomote Islands, for cooperation to the experiments, and staffs of the ‘Holistic Reenactment Project of Voyages 30,000 Years Ago’ and the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, for their supports to this experimental project.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI (grant number JP18H03596); National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo; 1752 supporters in our crowdfunding and other countless donors; Japan Airlines Co., Ltd.; Nippon Express Co., Ltd.; Best World Corporation; Lumine Co., Ltd.; World Brains Co., Ltd.; Valley of Gangala, Nanto Co., Ltd.; Pharmarise Holdings Corporation; MCG Inc.; HIT Corporation; Ikari Shodoku Co., Ltd.; Sansou Systems Co., Ltd.; Shin Kong International Securities Co., Ltd. We thank the anonymous reviewers and the co-editor, Scott M. Fitzpatrick for their valuable comments.