Researchers crafted a replica of a Paleolithic canoe and set out from Taiwan to examine how ancient humans managed to reach islands such as Okinawa without maps or metal tools. — The New York Times
IN 1947, against the best navigational advice, Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl and five crew members set sail from Peru on a balsa wood raft to test his theory that ancient South American cultures could have reached Polynesia.
The frail vessel, called Kon-Tiki, crossed several thousand nautical miles of the Pacific in 103 days and showed that his anthropological hunch was at least feasible.
