More than 7,000 years ago, Neolithic people navigated the Mediterranean Sea using technologically sophisticated boats, according to new research.
The 7,300-year-old canoe Marmotta 1 on display in the Museo delle Civiltà in Rome. It is a huge dugout canoe made from an oak trunk about 10.43 m long, 1.15 m wide at the stern and 0.85 m wide at the bow. It is 65 to 44cm high, depending on the part of the canoe. Image credit: Gibaja et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299765.
Many of the most important civilizations in Europe originated on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and Carthaginians plied that practically enclosed sea to move rapidly along its coasts and between its islands.
In different historical times, the Mediterranean was a space in which to travel and a means of communication.
However, one of the main migratory phenomena in history took place in the Neolithic, when farming communities began to spread around Europe and North Africa.
Although the beginnings of the Neolithic are documented in the Near East in about 10,000 BCE, communities from that region gradually occupied the whole Mediterranean around 7500-7000 BCE and reached the coasts of Portugal in about 5400 BCE.
In a new study, Dr. Juan Gibaja from the Spanish National Research Council and his colleagues examined five dugout canoes — built from hollowed-out trees between 5700 and 5100 BCE — from the Neolithic lakeshore village of La Marmotta, near Rome, Italy.
The analysis reveals that the canoes are built from four different types of wood, unusual among similar sites, and that they include advanced construction techniques such as transverse reinforcements.
One canoe is also associated with three T-shaped wooden objects, each with a series of holes that were likely used to fasten ropes tied to sails or other nautical elements.
These features, along with previous reconstruction experiments, indicate these were seaworthy vessels, a conclusion supported by the presence at the site of stone tools linked to nearby islands.
“These canoes are exceptional examples of prehistoric boats whose construction required a detailed understanding of structural design and wood properties in addition to well-organized specialized labor,” the researchers said.
“Similarities between these canoes and more recent nautical technologies support the idea that many major advances in sailing were made during the early Neolithic.”
“Direct dating of Neolithic canoes from La Marmotta reveals them to be the oldest in the Mediterranean, offering invaluable insights into Neolithic navigation,” they added.
“Our study reveals the amazing technological sophistication of early agricultural and pastoral communities, highlighting their woodworking skills and the construction of complex vessels.”
The study was published online in the journal PLoS ONE.
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J.F. Gibaja et al. 2024. The first Neolithic boats in the Mediterranean: The settlement of La Marmotta (Anguillara Sabazia, Lazio, Italy). PLoS ONE 19 (3): e0299765; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299765