03-16-2019, 02:55 PM
Well, you don't start out making trans-oceanic voyages. That's the culmination of thousands of years of accumulated knowledge. People start off sailing to the nearest island, then to the one visible beyond that, then cruising around on open ocean for a few days fishing, etc.
Also, it's a little misleading to call them "Stone Age". Metalworking arrived in the Philippines around 1000 BC, while the proto-Polynesian Lapita culture was in Fiji and Samoa. But even if they had obtained the technique, there's no real deposits of metal ores on oceanic islands. Just like how they abandoned pottery once they moved beyond Fiji, because there are no sources of clay.
Also, it's a little misleading to call them "Stone Age". Metalworking arrived in the Philippines around 1000 BC, while the proto-Polynesian Lapita culture was in Fiji and Samoa. But even if they had obtained the technique, there's no real deposits of metal ores on oceanic islands. Just like how they abandoned pottery once they moved beyond Fiji, because there are no sources of clay.