The Sailing Performance of Ancient Pacific Canoes
Abstract The islands of the Pacific Ocean were settled in a series of remarkable episodes of maritime migration. This chapter investigates the navigational and technological innovations that allowed Lapita canoes to sail east across the prevailing winds through Island Melanesia 3000 years ago and, a...
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2024
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croxfordunivpr:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197607770.013.4 2024-10-13T14:03:14+00:00 The Sailing Performance of Ancient Pacific Canoes Technological Innovations and Maritime Migrations Irwin, Geoffrey Flay, Richard G. J. Dudley, Loughlin Johns, Dilys 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197607770.013.4 https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/58668015/book_46866_section_440474118.ag.pdf en eng Oxford University Press The Oxford Handbook of Island and Coastal Archaeology ISBN 9780197607770 9780197607992 book-chapter 2024 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197607770.013.4 2024-09-17T04:28:49Z Abstract The islands of the Pacific Ocean were settled in a series of remarkable episodes of maritime migration. This chapter investigates the navigational and technological innovations that allowed Lapita canoes to sail east across the prevailing winds through Island Melanesia 3000 years ago and, after a “long pause” of at least 1500 years in West Polynesia, for Polynesian canoes to sail upwind into central East Polynesia. Lapita sailors invented the navigational technique of latitude sailing to transition from coastal seafarers to ocean explorers. Their canoes were dugouts raised by planks and stabilized by outriggers with fore-and-aft sails, and their seascape was a narrow latitudinal band of tropical islands. In the second episode some East Polynesian voyaging canoes had sophisticated planked hulls with improved upwind performance and they used Oceanic spritsails, and their seascape spanned latitudes from the northern tropics to the sub-Antarctic. These conclusions are based on archaeology and yacht engineering tests of relevant sails in a wind tunnel and canoe hulls in a towing tank, and simulated voyages by a virtual canoe based on the earliest-known archaeological East Polynesian voyaging canoe found at Anaweka, New Zealand, closely match the real voyages of the experimental replica canoe Hokule’a throughout Polynesia. Book Part Antarc* Antarctic Oxford University Press Antarctic Pacific New Zealand |
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Open Polar |
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Oxford University Press |
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croxfordunivpr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract The islands of the Pacific Ocean were settled in a series of remarkable episodes of maritime migration. This chapter investigates the navigational and technological innovations that allowed Lapita canoes to sail east across the prevailing winds through Island Melanesia 3000 years ago and, after a “long pause” of at least 1500 years in West Polynesia, for Polynesian canoes to sail upwind into central East Polynesia. Lapita sailors invented the navigational technique of latitude sailing to transition from coastal seafarers to ocean explorers. Their canoes were dugouts raised by planks and stabilized by outriggers with fore-and-aft sails, and their seascape was a narrow latitudinal band of tropical islands. In the second episode some East Polynesian voyaging canoes had sophisticated planked hulls with improved upwind performance and they used Oceanic spritsails, and their seascape spanned latitudes from the northern tropics to the sub-Antarctic. These conclusions are based on archaeology and yacht engineering tests of relevant sails in a wind tunnel and canoe hulls in a towing tank, and simulated voyages by a virtual canoe based on the earliest-known archaeological East Polynesian voyaging canoe found at Anaweka, New Zealand, closely match the real voyages of the experimental replica canoe Hokule’a throughout Polynesia. |
format |
Book Part |
author |
Irwin, Geoffrey Flay, Richard G. J. Dudley, Loughlin Johns, Dilys |
spellingShingle |
Irwin, Geoffrey Flay, Richard G. J. Dudley, Loughlin Johns, Dilys The Sailing Performance of Ancient Pacific Canoes |
author_facet |
Irwin, Geoffrey Flay, Richard G. J. Dudley, Loughlin Johns, Dilys |
author_sort |
Irwin, Geoffrey |
title |
The Sailing Performance of Ancient Pacific Canoes |
title_short |
The Sailing Performance of Ancient Pacific Canoes |
title_full |
The Sailing Performance of Ancient Pacific Canoes |
title_fullStr |
The Sailing Performance of Ancient Pacific Canoes |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Sailing Performance of Ancient Pacific Canoes |
title_sort |
sailing performance of ancient pacific canoes |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197607770.013.4 https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/58668015/book_46866_section_440474118.ag.pdf |
geographic |
Antarctic Pacific New Zealand |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Pacific New Zealand |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_source |
The Oxford Handbook of Island and Coastal Archaeology ISBN 9780197607770 9780197607992 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197607770.013.4 |
_version_ |
1812819659676712960 |