With just a canoe, the coastal ancestors began to explore the sea!

Most coastal settlements in the Neolithic Age were built on riverbanks or seaside terraces. Transportation needs and the desire for deep-water resources prompted people to invent the earliest water transportation tool - the canoe .

Located in the central hall on the second floor of the National Maritime Museum, there is the best preserved and largest canoe currently recorded in China - the Tang Canoe .

This exhibit was discovered in the Xijiang River Basin in Guangdong. It is made of mangosteen and is basically intact as a whole. It has beautiful lines. It is 13.8 meters long and has a maximum belly diameter of 0.9 meters. It is made by hollowing out a whole piece of wood. There are many artificially dug round and square holes on the bow, stern, and sides of the hull.

Do you know where are the main sites where canoes from the Neolithic era in China were unearthed?

The remains of canoes or oars have been unearthed at Neolithic sites such as Xiaoshan, Huzhou, Yuyao in Zhejiang, Lianjiang in Fujian, and Huazhou in Guangdong.

In 2002, a canoe wreckage was unearthed at the Kuahuqiao site in Xiaoshan, Zhejiang. The remaining length is 560 cm, the width is 52 cm, and it dates back 8,000-7,000 years. The original object was a whole piece of Masson pine wood, which was first charred with fire and then processed with a stone adze. The entire canoe is relatively intact and is one of the earliest canoes in the world.

Ancient Chinese people used canoes to explore the sea as early as the Neolithic Age, and the "footprints of canoes" can be explored through the spread of another kind of boat-making tool during the same period.

The stone adze with a section is a typical tool for making canoes at that time. The stone adze is a kind of polished stone tool, rectangular, with a single-sided blade. Some stone adzes have a piece of the top ground off, which is called a "stone adze with a section". It can be used for felling and digging soil when equipped with a wooden handle.

The stone adze is one of the most distinctive production tools in the vast coastal areas of eastern my country. It has been unearthed in large quantities in many sites in Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Shandong and other places, including the Hemudu site. It can be used in the manufacture and production of boats. In addition, it has been found in Taiwan, the Philippines, North Borneo and many Polynesian islands in the Pacific Ocean, such as the Hawaiian Islands and the Marquesas Islands. It has also become one of the important physical evidences for exploring the migration of early humans across the ocean.

The canoe expanded the activities of the coastal ancestors. The spread of stone adzes in the Neolithic Age and the appearance of similar objects in cultural sites on the Shandong Peninsula and Liaodong Peninsula all show the process of prehistoric coastal ancestors constantly exploring the ocean.

"The Footprints of the Canoe" shows us an era's exploration of the ocean, the wisdom condensed by the coastal ancestors, and an indelible and shining journey through the years. This spirit and belief will surely guide us towards the vast blue.