Early humans used rafts and boats to cross water bodies today we also have ships.why did we need ships when we had boats and rafts?
Answers
Explanation:
When were the first "boats" built?
The oldest discovered boat in the world is the 3 meter long Pesse canoe constructed around 8,000 BCE [ Wikipedia ]; but more elaborate craft existed even earlier. A rock carving in Azerbaijan dating from ~10,000 BCE shows a reed boat manned by about 20 paddlers. Others argue that hide boats (kayaks) were used in Northern Europe as early as 9,500 BCE.
However, the very first sea-worthy boats were most probably built long before that, about 800,000 years ago, not by Man but by his predecessor Homo Erectus, a smart naked ape.
Erectus originated about 1.8 million years ago (Mya) in Africa and the species survived for over 1.5 million years before being supplanted by Neanderthals and our own Homo Sapiens. Erectus had learned how to put cutting edges on stones and perhaps how to control fire; but he lacked the gene for speech and language. For more details on the evolution of Man - and the Universe, click HERE.
Erectus lived through the Ice Age(s), a period of repeated glaciations, each lasting about 200,000 years, separated by warm spells. At the extreme, glaciers covered up to 30% of the world's land mass and tied up huge volumes of water resulting in the sea level dropping 100 m or more. This created temporary land passages between islands and continents. At some point, England was connected to Europe, Siberia to Alaska and parts of Indonesia linked to mainland Asia.
The Island Corridor
In time, Erectus spread out of Africa into Asia, but as he did not wear clothes, he stayed close to the equator. Erectus reached the Indonesian archipelago as early as 800,000 years ago. We know this because stone tools dated to that period and typical of Erectus have been found on the Island of Flores - between Bali and Timor. Although Erectus could have reached Bali by trekking over land bridges; migration beyond Bali to Flores required a minimum of 10 important sea crossings of up to 100 km and could not have occured by accident [Ref1]. The conclusion is that Homo Erectus built seaworthy craft 600,000 years before the first Homo Sapiens appeared on earth.
Nothing remains of these early boats - which have long since rotted away; but, knowing what plants and tools were available at the time, anthropologists can guess at the kinds of watercraft they used. The current theory is that bamboo rafts like the one shown below were used. Recently, this hypothesis was tested by building rafts using stone age techniques and replicating critical crossings [Ref2].
Torres Strait islanders on a bamboo raft, 1906
Encyclopedia of New Zeland
H. Erectus is succeeded by more intelligent species who arise in Africa. First, the Neanderthals who appear around 300 Kya and then Homo Sapiens (~ 200 Kya). Both develop clothes, and migrate north into Asia and Europe via the Sinai land bridge. The last migration out of Africa is thought to have occurred around 60 kya, reaching Europe and Australia around 40 Kya and America around 20 Kya [ Ref. ].
Physically, early Homo Sapiens was identical to modern man; but for 150_000 years, his mental abilities were limited - on a par to those of Neanderthals. He used the same stone tools; had no jewelry and hunting was limited to small animals.
But around 50 Kya, there is evidence of a HUGE change: artefacts found around burial sites become much more sophisticated. They include: art (jewelry and drawings), advanced tools (needles and nets) and long-distance weapons (bows and arrows). This progress is attributed to mutations which allowed the use of language and abstract thought. Homo Sapiens truly became Modern Man.
Homo Sapiens undoubtedly improved upon the crude rafts of Homo Erectus. On this page, we consider boats which existed before metal tools were developped and cities arose. More specifically, before wood planks allowed the construction of large ships for war and commerce around 3,000BCE.
Evidence of the nature of these early boats comes from unearthed remains, petroglyphs and other drawings - starting around 10,000 BCE (12 Kya). To this we can add boats that are in use today but could have been constructed with stone-age tools. Boats types fall into several categories depending on the materials and tools used in their construction: