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Neolithic boats
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Re: Scandinavian skin boats -Landstrom
Nov 24, 2005, 21:49
>I find the leafy branch theory little unsatisfying

Yeah, doesn't quite ring true. Especially not if you're working on the theory of least effort. Hoisting bushes in the air would be quite tiring, especially in a stiff breeze.

What would have been a precursor to sails and masts?

Sails could have come before masts I suppose, especially in vessels with flexible frames rather than wooden keels, but what would they have been attached to? Could you just hold a small sail and get a decent degree of propulsion? Probably not.

Maybe, if you didn't have a good enough supply of textiles lying about to invest in large quantities of sailcloth, you could use kites made of animal skins.

Or maybe two people, each holding aloft a paddle, with a 'sail' of skins attached to the top of each paddle?

Who knows? Not I. And I can't think of any ethnographic comparisons. But it's fun to speculate.
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Re: Scandinavian skin boats -Landstrom (fitzcoraldo)		 Replies:
Re: Scandinavian skin boats -Landstrom (PeterH)
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