03-14-2019, 01:06 PM
Two of the most extraordinary things about the Polynesians was their complex open-sea canoes and their navigation (way finding) skills across thousands of miles of ocean. These talents figure prominently in every detailed survey and book about Polynesians.
Here is an apt quote from a PBS link: The early European explorers who first encountered the Polynesians could not believe that a stone age people, with only simple sailing canoes and no navigational instruments, could themselves have discovered and settled the mid-Pacific islands.
https://www.pbs.org/wayfinders/polynesian3.html
If the ancient Polynesians are to be described as a stone-age culture, they were at the top of that list in responding to the challenges of their physical environment with sophisticated material culture and observation.
Here is an apt quote from a PBS link: The early European explorers who first encountered the Polynesians could not believe that a stone age people, with only simple sailing canoes and no navigational instruments, could themselves have discovered and settled the mid-Pacific islands.
https://www.pbs.org/wayfinders/polynesian3.html
If the ancient Polynesians are to be described as a stone-age culture, they were at the top of that list in responding to the challenges of their physical environment with sophisticated material culture and observation.