XPost: alt.folklore.computers   
   From: tnp@invalid.invalid   
      
   On 11/01/2026 06:17, c186282 wrote:   
   >  From what I've read, even the Neanderthals knew how   
   >    to build at least crude boats - pushed out onto some   
   >    of the Greek islands.   
   >   
   Those my well have not been islands, then. The Mediterranean was empty   
   at the 'end' of the last ice age.   
      
   But we know from stories and archaeology that the Greeks had   
   sophisticated vessels mostly rowed by slaves by  the end of the Bronze age.   
      
   In fact England may house the earliest remains of a sea going boat from   
   1500BC made of oak planks sewn together with Yew ...   
      
   ...and as has been mentioned canoes and coracles go  back even further   
   than that.   
      
   Not sure if Neanderthals had seagoing boats, but using a long to make a   
   raft is basic tech.   
      
   Since almost all of the tech back then was made of wood, we don't often   
   find its remains.   
      
   >    So yea, modern humans carried on the practice. It got   
   >    them to England and beyond. Well, SOME of them ...   
   >    the death rate would have been rather high for any   
   >    long voyage.   
   >   
   >    Building GOOD, large-ish, properly steerable boats ...   
   >    THAT took much longer than expected. Seems easy now,   
   >    but for whatever reasons the ancients had a hard time   
   >    of it.   
   >   
   Depends how far you go back.   
   Greeks had coastal vessels around 2500BC for sure.   
      
   >    England ... NOT too far. Even crap boats would do it.   
   >    The Beaker People completely infiltrated the existing   
   >    English pop about 4400bc - but they'd HAVE to have   
   >    floated there. Clearly their boats were 'adequate',   
   >    and there'd have been a LOT of them.   
      
   Not necessarily. The 'English' channel was not sea until very late on.   
      
   Although it went before Doggerland did.   
      
      
   And even today illegal  migration using craft no one describes as   
   seaworthy is taking place across the Channel.   
      
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   The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all   
   private property.   
      
   Karl Marx   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)