Cretan Tools Confirm 130,000 Antiquity of Sea Travel

It is one thing to observe that the antiquity ofsea travel seems inevitable, but quite another to prove its reality.  We now can make the astounding assertion thathumanity took to the open seas whenever they needed and this has been going onfor an amazing 130,000 years at least.

That makes all possible crossings prospective atleast.  If they could see a place from aheadland, then they went as a surety. Otherwise they took to the nearby sea in the same way the historical Indiansof the North Westdid.  Their constraint on boat size wastree size.

Again the clock on human development is crankedway back.  Making a seaworthy canoe is aserious undertaking requiring great technical skill matching anything expectedof us today.  Thus we can throw out ourassumptions on the human mind and recognize we are dealing with a folk whocould have transitioned into the modern world rather easily.

When I started this blog only three years ago, thegeneral consensus placed modern humanity about 70,000 years back at best.  This doubles the span.

Cretantools point to 130,000-year-old sea travel

January3, 2011

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http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-cretan-tools-year-old-sea.html

Anpicture provided by the Greek Ministry of Culture shows stone tools found on Crete. Greek and American archaeologists on the islandsay the tools, which they believe are at least 130,000 years old, show thatearly humans could navigate across open water thousands of years earlier thanpreviously thought.

Greece'sculture ministry says archaeologists on the island of Cretehave discovered what may be evidence of one of the world's earliest sea voyagesby humans.

Aministry statement says archaeologists fromGreece and the U.S.have found rough axes and other tools thought to bebetween 130,000 and 700,000 years old in shelters on the island's south coast.

Cretehas been separated from the mainland for about five million years, so whoevermade the tools must have traveled there by sea (a distance of at least 40miles).

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Anundated handout picture provided by the Greek Ministry of Culture shows stonetools found on southwestern Crete island.Archaeologists on the Greek island of Crete have foundstartling evidence that early humans were capable of navigation at least130,000 years ago, the Greek culture ministry said.

Theprevious earliest evidence of open-sea travel in Greece dates back 11,000 years(worldwide, about 60,000 years - although considerably earlier dates have beenproposed).

Theministry said Monday it is to conduct a more thorough excavation ofthe area.

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