The pre-Qin canoe discovered in Xijiang River valley,Deqing of Guangdong province in 2011,has been studied and identified as the bottom remain of a developed dugout with additional planks attached.The remains of this canoe show dozens of small round holes drilled densely and respectively along the both sides of the upper edge of the hull,which was completely different from the typical construction technique using the peg mortise and tenon joinery detected in all of the developed dugouts and planked boats since Han and Tang dynasties discovered in China.On the contrary,this hull of the developed dugout indicates the usage of the stitching/sewing con-struction method well-known in Atlantic and Indian oceans since late Neolithic age.The discovery reveals that the stitching/sewing technique had also developed before the peg mortise and tenon joinery technique which was developed since Han Dynasty in ancient China.Therefore,more than one planking methods were actually used during the period when dugouts transitioned to developed canoes or planked boats.The discovery changes the current geographical pattern of the shipbuilding technique developments around the globe,and is thus highly valuable in the historical study of ancient Chinese shipbuilding and its interaction with foreign maritime technology.
Developed DugoutPlanked BoatStitched/Sewn TechniqueShipbuilding History
万方数据
维普
