History of Invention

Author: Boyan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Early boats were a historically long-standing water transport tool. The invention of boats can be traced back to ancient times. observed how leaves and tree trunks floated on water and were inspired to create boats. As recorded in Shiben, it states: "," meaning ancient people saw leaves falling onto the water and drifting, thus creating boats. The earliest boats invented by humans were likely dugout canoes. The manufacturing method was roughly as follows: split one side of a log and hollow it out to form a boat. In a marsh in Stakar, Yorkshire, England, a wooden paddle dating back to 7500 BC was unearthed, likely used for rowing a dugout canoe. In the Netherlands, a dugout canoe was discovered in Pease, dating back to around 6300 BC. Such canoes could be quite large; one found in Brig, Lincolnshire, England, was as long as 16 meters and 1.5 meters wide. Early Egyptians and Mesopotamians may have used reeds to build boats, bundling them together and coating them with tar or resin to enable them to sail on water. Some boats were made from animal hides. Ancient Assyrian soldiers, as depicted in reliefs, crossed rivers in such boats. One type was the Irish wicker boat—made from woven willow branches, covered with animal hide, and then coated with tar. Another simpler type was an inflatable animal hide. Today, in the upper reaches of the Yellow River in China, there are still boats made from animal hides—such as sheepskin rafts. In the Hemudu site in Zhejiang, pottery boats and six pottery paddles were unearthed. Such toy boats that simulated the shape of real boats already indicate the extent to which boats were used at that time. In one of the board walls of the cultural layer at the site, a fragment of wood with an arched cross-section and a pointed tip was found—it may have originally been a dugout canoe, later repurposed for building the wall. Wooden boats and paddles have also been unearthed in other sites. Clearly, boats were important transport tools for people at that time. The invention of boats marked the beginning of humans conquering nature. With boats, people extended their reach and expanded their horizons. Fishing developed significantly, food sources became richer, and tribal communities could break isolation and increase interactions with other tribes. Gradually, these interactions took on the character of trade. Although dugout canoes were vulnerable to storms and high waves, early ancestors still dared to use them to cross oceans, demonstrating the resilience and perseverance of life. During the reign of King Cheng of Zhou, records mentioned "the Yue people offering boats." By the Spring and Autumn period, Wu was known as a country that "could not afford to abandon the use of boats and paddles for even a single day," while King Goujian of Yue proudly described the people of his watery homeland as "living by boats and paddles, as if they were riding horses—swift as the wind," truly like immortals in their grace. By the Western Han Dynasty, the number of boats in Wu reflected the strength of the state. But it wasn’t just in Wu and Yue. Our ancestor, the Yellow Emperor, during the time of creating the world, was chaos, a (leather bag), Wen Dun, or a gourd—experts have even used this whimsical imagery to explain the Yellow Emperor. They believe that the Yellow Emperor was named Xuanyuan, and Xuanyuan means "Heavenly Turtle." The turtle was the clan’s totem. The totem’s image was a person lying on a leather bag, crossing a river. Gradually, people evolved the and gourd into myths and legends about Hu and Pan Gu. Thus, the elusive "Yellow Emperor," riding a boat made of leather bags or gourds, sailed out of chaos and the primordial wilderness, ushering in the dawn of civilization. P17-18