Energy & Industry / Transport & Mobility

Boats & Dugout Canoes

People crossed water long before sails: rafts or boats took the first settlers to Australia at least 50,000 years ago, and a hollowed pine log from about 8000 BC is believed to be the oldest boat known.

The Pesse canoe, found in 1955 in the Netherlands, is a 3-metre Scots pine log hollowed out with flint or antler tools and dated to between 8040 and 7510 BC. Earlier craft were rafts and boats of wood, bark and animal skin that rarely survive, but the settlement of Australia 50,000 to 60,000 years ago cannot have happened without them. Boats let people move themselves and heavy loads along rivers, lakes and coasts, and fitting a sail to a boat around 3200 BC created the sailing ship.