A brand new examine suggests that folks from the Pitted Ware Tradition (PWC) in historic Scandinavia possible constructed boats from animal skins, probably seal hides, to fish, hunt, and commerce. The PWC was a Neolithic group of hunter-gatherers who lived between 3500 and 2300 BC in areas close to the Baltic and North Seas. Their survival closely relied on the seas, the place they relied on maritime actions, significantly seal searching, as evidenced by the massive portions of seal bones found at their inhabited websites.
Seal Hides and Maritime Journey
Mikael Fauvelle, a researcher at Lund College in Sweden instructed Reside Science, seals weren’t solely hunted for meals but additionally performed a key function in making watercraft. Seal hides, together with oil extracted from their blubber, could have been used to assemble and keep boats.
Archaeologists have discovered traces of seal oil inside pottery, exhibiting that these individuals had vital portions of it. Boats comprised of such supplies had been sturdy sufficient for lengthy voyages, which was important given their reliance on sea journey, as per a examine revealed within the Journal of Maritime Archaeology.
Lengthy-Distance Commerce and Seafaring Know-how
The PWC’s boats needed to cowl giant distances between islands like Gotland and Åland, making seal-hide watercraft preferrred for these journeys. Primitive options, akin to canoes comprised of hollowed logs, wouldn’t have sufficed for such expansive travels. The boats could have been giant sufficient to move as much as a dozen individuals and animals, together with deer and bears.
Proof from Rock Artwork and Fragments
Although bodily proof of those boats stays scarce, small fragments present in northern Sweden and rock artwork depicting boats supply clues. Some pictures present vessels with harpoon rests resembling animal heads. These drawings, together with boat body fragments, counsel that the PWC had been superior of their seafaring strategies.