Thousands of years before the invention of compasses or sails, prehistoric peoples crossed oceans to reach remote lands like Malta and Australia. Doing so meant striking out in unknowable conditions. What do such crossings tell us about ancient minds?

At a stroke, this extends the human occupation of Malta by over 1000 years. But more importantly, these people were not only alive in the Stone Age; they were also hunter-gatherers, as opposed to people from farming communities with more advanced tools. Archaeologists had often assumed that hunter-gatherers didn’t cross wide spans of ocean. Scerri’s team showed otherwise.

  • deadbeef79000@lemmy.nzEnglish
    13·
    16 days ago

    Archaeologists had often assumed that hunter-gatherers didn’t cross wide spans of ocean.

    Polynesians (during their stone age) crossed the Pacific and came back. Populating almost every island along the way.