The Discovery that Revealed Ancient Humans Navigated the Seas 130,000 Years Ago

Crete has been an Island for an estimated 5 million years so unless there were some amazing swimmers 130,000 years ago, a raft or some type of boat must have been used. Before this discovery it was always the standard 12,000 years ago when the first modern humans arrived. So the question in my mind was it Neanderthals, Homo heidelbergensis or some version of modern humans who were doing the sailing ?

The 130,000 years stated in the title is because the tools were found in a strata using stratigraphic analysis . The layer was actually between 130,000 and 190,000 years old estimated by that dating method.

It was a few years ago that a Greek-American archaeological team made a startling discovery – they found the oldest indications of seafaring and navigation in the world, in an area called Plakia on Crete Island in Greece. It is an incredibly important discovery that is given little attention, despite the fact that it reached the top ten discoveries of 2010. Their research is forcing scholars to rethink the maritime capabilities of early human and pre-human cultures.

The team of archaeologists were carrying out excavations in a gorge on the island of Crete when they discovered a Palaeolithic site in the canyon of Preveli, where more than 30 hand axes and hundreds of other stone tools, such as cleavers and scrapers, made from quartz were found scattered across more than 20 different locations. Until this discovery, it was believed that ancient humans reached Crete, Cyprus, a few other Greek islands, and possibly Sardinia, no earlier than 12,000 years ago. However, remarkably, the stone tools found at Parkia were dated to at least 130,000 years old.

www.ancient-origins.net...

Maritime prehistory
There are indications as stone tools and traces left on a rhinoceros skeleton that suggest early hominids crossed the sea and colonized the Philippine island of Luzon in a time frame as early as 777,000 to 631,000 years ago

Wow very interesting. I'd also like to know who they think might have been sailing. I just read an article on evidence of 100k old "human" activity but who knows who it may have been. I believe our true history is still unknown and kept hidden. I often wonder how advanced humans were before Earth got reset.

Or dating this stuff is not very accurate

a reply to: Raggedyman

It’s accurate enough.

a reply to: 727Sky


This ties in nicely with the theory that the human race has gone through various cycles in their history that is connected with the religions as well as the constellations in the sky.


It seems there is a period of growth followed by a period of decline and calamity before the new age can be ushered in.

It makes sense to me but raises so many more questions.

a reply to: 19Bones79

Not really.

The ability to traverse the sea may be ahead of what we’ve assumed, but the tools aren’t.

Stone tools are what they found.

it doesn't take a genius to figure out humans have been sailing around virtually forever. there are just so many clues and coincidences around the world.

where does one find pyramids for example? not just Egypt, but all over the world. is it coincidence that everyone seems to have built pyramids?

how about the hooked cross (aka swastika). we all know it is a religious symbol in many cultures in Asia. and that makes sense. since people could easily travel on land and trade, thus bringing others into contact with it. so why and how did native Americans have and use it, on the far side of the Pacific?

or how about those native american "dream catchers". imagine my surprise when i saw them for sale in tourist shops in the Philippines that sell native art and such? not just far away from North America, but pretty much islands in the middle of the Pacific.

and how did the natives even get to North America? many show genetics of Asia from what i understand. and don't give me bull crap about a land bridge up in the bearing straights. a land bridge that was there because of so much water being frozen in glaciers in the north. that area is cold and barren today. but how much colder and devoid of life would it have been when glaciers reached far south? do you know how long a walk it would be (since we are told they had no wheels to use to be able to transport stuff). and how could they carry even a fraction of supplies and equipment they would need for a journey that long? think of those arctic expeditions over 100 years ago. people crossing that landbridge would have faced colder temperatures and a much longer journey. lets not even talk about navigating in such barren conditions. the only real answer is by boat.

a reply to: Chadwickus


That might simply be the case as well, yes.


My gut wants me to believe otherwise.

a reply to: generik

I think you need to actually find some answers to your questions instead of assuming because you don’t know the answer, that there isn’t one.

For example, pyramids, they’re a distinctive shape, so they stand out in ones mind, and they’re also relatively simple to build.

Dream catchers in the Phillipines? Pretty sure you can buy didgeridoos in Bali. Means nothing.

a reply to: 727Sky

There are the "Sea people" who were purported a seafaring confederation who attacked ancient Egypt and other regions of the East Mediterranean, prior to, and during , the Late Bronze Age collapse, but that's a bit less than 130,000 years ago.

Interesting all the same.

originally posted by: 727Sky
Crete has been an Island for an estimated 5 million years so unless there were some amazing swimmers 130,000 years ago, a raft or some type of boat must have been used. Before this discovery it was always the standard 12,000 years ago when the first modern humans arrived. So the question in my mind was it Neanderthals, Homo heidelbergensis or some version of modern humans who were doing the sailing ?

The 130,000 years stated in the title is because the tools were found in a strata using stratigraphic analysis . The layer was actually between 130,000 and 190,000 years old estimated by that dating method.

It was a few years ago that a Greek-American archaeological team made a startling discovery – they found the oldest indications of seafaring and navigation in the world, in an area called Plakia on Crete Island in Greece. It is an incredibly important discovery that is given little attention, despite the fact that it reached the top ten discoveries of 2010. Their research is forcing scholars to rethink the maritime capabilities of early human and pre-human cultures.

The team of archaeologists were carrying out excavations in a gorge on the island of Crete when they discovered a Palaeolithic site in the canyon of Preveli, where more than 30 hand axes and hundreds of other stone tools, such as cleavers and scrapers, made from quartz were found scattered across more than 20 different locations. Until this discovery, it was believed that ancient humans reached Crete, Cyprus, a few other Greek islands, and possibly Sardinia, no earlier than 12,000 years ago. However, remarkably, the stone tools found at Parkia were dated to at least 130,000 years old.

www.ancient-origins.net...

Earth Crustal Displacement could also explain unexpected artifacts showing up in odd places, if one subscribes to that theory.

The More You Know ...
Facts sometimes confuse Reality - if your not ready for them

a reply to: SleeperHasAwakened

Was Hapgoods Earth crust displacement not deemed to be somewhat pseudoscientific?

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: SleeperHasAwakened

Was Hapgoods Earth crust displacement not deemed to be somewhat pseudoscientific?

Yes, that is what I've read, although fascinating that in his publication on the subject, he managed to convince Albert Einstein that his theory was reasonable, and Mr. Einstein wrote the forward for Hapgood's book.

I am reading through Graham Hancock's book now, and of course he believes in Hapgood's theory.

It does seem a little far fetched to me, I would think there would be more evidence in fossil records to back up sudden shifts of the Earth's crust.

originally posted by: generik
it doesn't take a genius to figure out humans have been sailing around virtually forever. there are just so many clues and coincidences around the world.

where does one find pyramids for example? not just Egypt, but all over the world. is it coincidence that everyone seems to have built pyramids?

Stones are easily heaped and stay that way if you build in some steps. Easy enough to discover.

how about the hooked cross (aka swastika). we all know it is a religious symbol in many cultures in Asia. and that makes sense. since people could easily travel on land and trade, thus bringing others into contact with it. so why and how did native Americans have and use it, on the far side of the Pacific?

There are important differences in drawing the hooked cross.

or how about those native american "dream catchers". imagine my surprise when i saw them for sale in tourist shops in the Philippines that sell native art and such? not just far away from North America, but pretty much islands in the middle of the Pacific.

Are dream catchers originated in the Philipines or is it just another example of trade?

and how did the natives even get to North America? many show genetics of Asia from what i understand. and don't give me bull crap about a land bridge up in the bearing straights. a land bridge that was there because of so much water being frozen in glaciers in the north. that area is cold and barren today. but how much colder and devoid of life would it have been when glaciers reached far south? do you know how long a walk it would be (since we are told they had no wheels to use to be able to transport stuff). and how could they carry even a fraction of supplies and equipment they would need for a journey that long? think of those arctic expeditions over 100 years ago. people crossing that landbridge would have faced colder temperatures and a much longer journey. lets not even talk about navigating in such barren conditions. the only real answer is by boat.

The Inuit could show you how to do all of this. But the ice-age had bound a lot of water into glaciers so that the sealevel was about 100feet deeper than today, making the Beringstreet a lush walk across green flatlands. The main problem was the Ursus spelaeus (cave bear).

a reply to: 727Sky

I don't want to discount your thread or this discovery..

But I thought it was widely known that there has been evidence we originated around 750,000 years ago and began forming societies and doing complex behaviors around then

a reply to: SleeperHasAwakened

Im with you SleeperHasAwakened, makes good reading.

I even like the odd David Icke book if im honest, with tongue in cheek and a big pile of salt.

The way Hapgood went on about how large portions of our atmosphere could be blown off and flash frozen just don't make sense all the same as the rest of the atmosphere would rush in to accommodate the vacuum plus its rather hard to lose heat in such, and thats not even touching the fact that plate tectonics don't function in the manner Hapgood prescribed.

Like i said through, great doom porn.

I found the last part of the article very interesting:

What is particularly interesting, is that the style of the tools closely resembles artifacts from the stone technology known as Acheulean, which originated with pre-human populations in Africa. For decades, the standard hypothesis has been that Acheulean toolmakers reached Europe and Asia via the Middle East, passing mainly through what is now Turkey into the Balkans. The findings in Crete raise the possibility that human migration was not confined to land routes and may have included expansion from Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain, or from Libya to Crete – a stretch of approximately 200 miles (320 km).

Definitely lends credence to seafaring elsewhere globally. And makes the South American/African trade claims that much more likely (I already think it was very possible, at least between Brazil/West Africa)

originally posted by: Chadwickus
a reply to: 19Bones79

Not really.

The ability to traverse the sea may be ahead of what we’ve assumed, but the tools aren’t.

Stone tools are what they found.

The stone tools aren't under discussion. Who's to say with any certainty that unknown civilisations literally trod lightly on the earth, in that their technology was organic based? What's really fascinating is that it appears we (or some incarnation of modern humans) were able to build and sail/row ocean going boats way before we were supposed to be able to.

Was that skill licked off the stones? Or was it a much older skill, used by our earlier cousins?