The First Mariners

This volume summarizes the history and findings of the First Mariners Project, which the author commenced in 1996 and which is engaged in exploring the Ice Age origins of seafaring. This has so far involved the construction of eight primitive vessels with stone tools under scientifically controlled conditions, and the sailing of six of them. Four bamboo rafts have succeeded in accomplishing the historically documented crossings they sought to replicate, other efforts have failed. One of the successful experiments, a 1000-km journey to Australia in 1998, attempted to recreate the first human arrival in Australia, probably around 60,000 years ago. Others addressed the much earlier sea crossings documented to have taken place in the islands of Indonesia, the earliest of which occurred up to a million years ago. This book describes the archaeological background and relevant issues comprehensively and it comprises an extensive pictorial record, of both the experiments and the archaeological basis of this research.

Robert G. Bednarik, born in Vienna but an Australian since 1970, has produced over 1300 academic publications, including many books; edits three scientific journals and two series of monographs; and sees Aboriginal elders as his only teachers. His principal interest is the origin of the human ability to create constructs of reality.