# What is the oldest record of a man-made boat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 21, 2002, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036 "2002-11-21T22:09:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/1 "2002-11-21T22:09:25Z")
I say man-made, because I’ve seen pictures of walruses basking on balmy ice floes, which you could technically consider “boats,” although they don’t seem to know how to steer them particularly well. But seriously, how old is the “fossil record” on boats? ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/2 "2002-11-21T22:16:20Z")
Well I seem to remeber reading ancient Kushians on the Tigres and Euphredes (sp?) rivers using crude boats to float spices and such around the rivers. They were what, 5k years ago? 6.5k? ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/3 "2002-11-21T22:18:43Z")
Google came up with the following page: [http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20020617/boat.html](http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20020617/boat.html) > [@](#): > > The world’s oldest known boat, built 7,000 years ago out of tarry, bitumen-covered slabs, has been found in an unlikely place: the Kuwaiti desert. Note, however, that your definition of a boat may be different from the archaeologists’ definition: > [@](#): > > Evidence for log canoes, thought to be more like rafts than boats, goes back much further, to 8,000 B.C. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/4 "2002-11-21T23:03:14Z")
Italian neolithic pirogues (dugouts) are said to date to ~7,500 years ago: > [@](#): > > Anguillara Sabazia wants to house the two pirogues of the Neolithic period found at the bottom of Lake Bracciano in 1994 and currently exhibited at the Pigorini Museum in Rome. > … > Twelve and six meters long respectively, the Neolithic pirogues were found in the locality of La Marmotta. They date back to 5,500 BC. [http://www.adnkronos.com/news/prod/bolletti/history/2001/marzo/cuimar5.htm](http://www.adnkronos.com/news/prod/bolletti/history/2001/marzo/cuimar5.htm) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/5 "2002-11-21T23:09:10Z")
Whatever “boat” the aborigines used to get to Australia probably qualifies and I think that’s probably more than 10,000 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/6 "2002-11-22T00:33:37Z")
The native Australians arrived there at least 40,000 years and presumably didn’t swim. Presumably had some sort of dugout canoes. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/7 "2002-11-22T00:35:04Z")
Noah’s Ark. 🙂 (Sorry. **Somebody** had to say it… 😃 ) Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/8 "2002-11-22T00:52:50Z")
**Astro** and **Hari Seldon** The Australian Aborigines didn’t swim here and they probably didn’t come by boat - they walked here. They various aboriginal people are believed to have migrated to Australia during ice ages when Australia was connected to other parts of Oceania by landbridges ---
**Author:** ![TelcontarStorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@TelcontarStorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TelcontarStorm)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/9 "2002-11-22T13:37:00Z")
Zev, you kill me Brother. I think the oldest boat in exsistance today would have to be the one dug up near the Pyramids in Egypt. Apparently placed there for the otherworldly use of the Pharohs. ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/10 "2002-11-22T14:04:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TelcontarStorm \* > \*\*Apparently placed there for the otherworldly use of the Pharohs. \*\* Please read the article in the link I provided previously in this thread. The remains of what appear to be a boat found at As-Sabiyah in Kuwait are thought to be 2000 years older than the boat found in the Egyptian tomb (which dates back to about 3000 BCE). ---
**Author:** ![dylan\_73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@dylan\_73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dylan_73)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/11 "2002-11-22T15:52:58Z")
Well, if you accept [this](http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/columbus.shtml) then the Solutreans crossing the Atlantic to America where “The first migration was 20,000 to 30,000 years ago” must have used boats. And they wouldn’t have been hollowed logs but wood, sealskin and whale oil. Dunno if DNA and flint evidence counts as a “record” for your purposes though. ---
**Author:** ![djbdjb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@djbdjb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djbdjb)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/12 "2002-11-22T18:24:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Motog \* > \*\ ***Astro** and **Hari Seldon** > > The Australian Aborigines didn’t swim here and they probably didn’t come by boat - they walked here. > > They various aboriginal people are believed to have migrated to Australia during ice ages when Australia was connected to other parts of Oceania by landbridges \*\* Even though sea level was lower, it was never so low as to not leave some water between Australia and Asia: > [@](#): > > There’s one accomplishment that everyone agrees would qualify humans as fully modern, language-using people: getting to Australia. Even in the recent ice age, when sea level was lower, at least 100 kilometers of open water separated Australia from the nearest part of Asia. To reach Australia, humans had to build and provision sturdy boats–a sign not only of technological advancement and navigational skill but also of high levels of planning and cooperation, says Gamble. [source]([http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/images/anthropology(NoLastWordOnLanguageOrigins.htm)](http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/images/anthropology(NoLastWordOnLanguageOrigins.htm)) ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/13 "2002-11-25T01:06:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by djbdjb \* > \*\*Even though sea level was lower, it was never so low as to not leave some water between Australia and Asia: \*\* While not wishing to sound petulant, my original comment specifically referred to **Oceania** rather than Asia. Australia certainly was connected to other parts of Oceania for long periods during the Pliestocene period, particularly to mainland Papua New Guinea. Please see the following maps of the Pleistocene geography from [Encarta](http://www.ozedweb.com/images/map_landbridge_oz.jpg) (as reproduced on [this](http://www.ozedweb.com/history/oz_geo_land_%20bridges.htm) site. and [Christopher Scotese’s Paleomap Project](http://www.scotese.com/lastice.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Weeks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbce88/32.png) [@Weeks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weeks)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/14 "2002-11-25T03:48:27Z")
Working on it…there was a canoe found in a spring in Florida that was dated at 12,000 years old. I’ll see if I can find more. ---
**Author:** ![Weeks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbce88/32.png) [@Weeks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weeks)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/15 "2002-11-25T04:01:32Z")
Well I’ve got[5000](http://www.turtletrack.org/Issues00/Co11042000/CO_11042000_Canoes.htm) years old so far, could’ve sworn I read about 12,000…still looking. ---
**Author:** ![Weeks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbce88/32.png) [@Weeks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weeks)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/16 "2002-11-25T04:04:37Z")
[6000](http://www.dep.state.fl.us/parks/news/articles/052402.htm) was as good as I could do. Don’t know where I got 12,000.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/17 "2002-11-25T04:57:38Z")
If we want to go into really ancient stuff, [this](http://www.archaeology.org/found.php?page=/9805/newsbriefs/mariners.html) article in Archeology Magazine suggests that the earliest Mariners were Homo Erectus on the island of Flores (Indonesia) around 900,000 years ago. They base their argument on the existence of Homo Erectus stone tools on the island that has never been connected to the mainland. ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-record-of-a-man-made-boat/138036/18 "2002-11-25T06:00:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Motog \* > \*\*[this](http://www.archaeology.org/found.php?page=/9805/newsbriefs/mariners.html) article in Archeology Magazine . \*\* That should, of course, be Arch_ **a** _eology Magazine