
Reed boats and rafts, along with
dugout canoe
A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed-out tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' (tr ...
s and other
raft
A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barre ...
s, are among the oldest known types of
boat
A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats.
Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...
s. Often used as
traditional fishing boats, they are still used in a few places around the world, though they have generally been replaced with
planked boats. Reed boats can be distinguished from reed rafts, since reed boats are usually waterproofed with some form of tar. As well as boats and
raft
A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barre ...
s, small
floating island
A floating island is a mass of floating aquatic plants, mud, and peat ranging in thickness from several centimeters to a few meters. Sometimes referred to as ''tussocks'', ''floatons'', or ''suds'', floating islands are found in many parts of t ...
s have also been constructed from reeds.
The earliest discovered remains from a reed boat are 7000 years old, found in
Kuwait
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...
. Reed boats are depicted in early
petroglyph
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
s and were common in ancient Egypt. A well-known example from the
Book of Exodus
The Book of Exodus (from ; ''Šəmōṯ'', 'Names'; ) is the second book of the Bible. It is the first part of the narrative of the Exodus, the origin myth of the Israelites, in which they leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through the strength of ...
is the
ark of bulrushes
The ark of bulrushes () was a container which, according to the episode known as the finding of Moses in the biblical Book of Exodus, carried the infant Moses.
The ark, containing the three-month-old baby Moses, was placed in reeds by the river ...
in which the baby
Moses
In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...
was set afloat. They were also constructed from early times in
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
and
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
, and boats with remarkably similar design have been found in
Easter Island
Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...
and also
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
where they were made by indigenous
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
. Reed boats are still used in Peru, Bolivia,
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
, and until recently in
Corfu
Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...
. The explorations and investigations of the Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer
Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and Ethnography, ethnographer with a background in biology with specialization in zoology, botany and geography.
Heyerdahl is notable for his Kon-Tiki expediti ...
have resulted in a better understanding of the construction and capabilities of reed boats.
History

The image on the right shows
petroglyph
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
s of a reed boat and men. The reed boat is similar to those depicted in cave paintings in Scandinavia, something that led Thor Heyerdahl to theorise that the Scandinavians came from the area that today is
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
. In the
Gobustan Petroglyph Reserve there are more than 6,000 petroglyphs carved by the
hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...
s that lived in these caves 12,000 years ago. At that time the Caspian Sea was much higher and washed against the lower rocks of the hill.
Another site is
Wadi Hammamat in
Qift, Egypt, where there are drawings of Egyptian reed boats dated to 4000 BC

The oldest known remnants of a boat made with reeds (and tar) are from a 7000-year-old seagoing boat found at the archaeological site of
H3, Kuwait.
The ancient Egyptians built boats from
papyrus
Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...
reeds, which were widely cultivated along the Nile River and Delta. This reed was also used for many other purposes, especially for providing papyrus writing parchments.
Other reeds of the genus ''
Cyperus
''Cyperus'' is a large genus of about 700 species of sedges, distributed throughout all continents in both tropical and temperate regions.
Description
They are annual or perennial plants, mostly aquatic and growing in still or slow-moving ...
'' may have been used as well.
Theophrastus
Theophrastus (; ; c. 371 – c. 287 BC) was an ancient Greek Philosophy, philosopher and Natural history, naturalist. A native of Eresos in Lesbos, he was Aristotle's close colleague and successor as head of the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum, the ...
in his ''
History of Plants'' states that the rigging on King Antigonus' fleet, used to fasten the doors when Ulysses slew the suitors in his hall, was made from papyrus reed.
Light
skiff
A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats, usually propelled by sails or oars. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for work, leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-pers ...
s suitable for the navigation of the Nile were constructed with stems cut from papyrus reed, as shown by
bas-relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
s from the
fourth dynasty where men cut papyrus, and use it to make
cordage and
sail
A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may b ...
s and to build a reed boat.
According to the
Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
, when the
Pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...
issued a decree to kill all the Israelite males, the
baby Moses was saved by his mother, who set him adrift on the Nile in an
ark of bulrushes
The ark of bulrushes () was a container which, according to the episode known as the finding of Moses in the biblical Book of Exodus, carried the infant Moses.
The ark, containing the three-month-old baby Moses, was placed in reeds by the river ...
. The bulrushes this small boat or basket was built with may have been papyrus.
The prophet
Isaiah
Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...
refers to Ethiopian vessels of reed in .
Thor Heyerdahl

In more recent years, the explorations and investigations of the Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer
Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and Ethnography, ethnographer with a background in biology with specialization in zoology, botany and geography.
Heyerdahl is notable for his Kon-Tiki expediti ...
, 1914–2002, have resulted in a better appreciation of the construction and capabilities of reed boats.
Heyerdahl wanted to demonstrate that ancient Mediterranean or African people could have crossed the
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
and reached the Americas by sailing with the
Canary Current
The Canary Current is a wind-driven surface current that is part of the North Atlantic Gyre. This eastern boundary current branches south from the North Atlantic Current and flows southwest about as far as Senegal where it turns west and later jo ...
. In 1969, Heyerdahl constructed his first reed boat, the ''
Ra,'' named after
Ra, the Egyptian sun god. Its design was based on ancient Egyptian models and drawings. The boat was built by boatmen from
Lake Chad
Lake Chad (, Kanuri language, Kanuri: ''Sádǝ'', ) is an endorheic freshwater lake located at the junction of four countries: Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, in western and central Africa respectively, with a catchment area in excess of . ...
in the
Republic of Chad with
papyrus
Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...
reeds from
Lake Tana
Lake Tana (; previously transcribed Tsana) is the largest lake in Ethiopia and a source of the Blue Nile. Located in Amhara Region in the north-western Ethiopian Highlands, the lake is approximately long and wide, with a maximum depth of , and ...
in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
. It was launched off the coast of
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
, and set sail in an attempt to cross the Atlantic. After several weeks, its crew modified the vessel in a manner that caused ''Ra'' to sag and take on water. Eventually ''Ra'' broke apart and was abandoned.
The following year, Heyerdahl organized the building of another similar boat, the ''
Ra II''. Boat builders from
Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca (; ; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...
built this in
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
. Again, the vessel set sail from Morocco, succeeding this time and reaching
Barbados
Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...
.
In 1978, Heyerdahl constructed a third reed boat, the ''
Tigris
The Tigris ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian Desert, Syrian and Arabia ...
,'' named for the
Tigris River
The Tigris ( ; see below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, before merging ...
, which defines the eastern boundary of Mesopotamia. The purpose of building this vessel was to demonstrate that
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
could have been linked through trade and migration to the
Indus Valley civilization
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form from 2600 BCE ...
, now modern-day Pakistan. ''Tigris'' was constructed in Iraq and sailed along the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
, then to Pakistan, finally entering the
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...
. She remained at sea in a seaworthy manner for five months. Then in
Djibouti
Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...
, ''Tigris'' was burnt deliberately in protest at the wars that were then raging everywhere around the
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...
and the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
.
Reed boats of Lake Titicaca
Totora reeds grow in
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
, particularly around
Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca (; ; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...
, and also on
Easter Island
Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...
. These reeds have been used by various
pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...
South American
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
civilizations to build reed boats. The boats, called
balsa
''Ochroma pyramidale'', commonly known as balsa, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. It is the sole member of the genus ''Ochroma'', and is classified in the subfamily Bombacoideae of the mallow family Malvaceae. The tree is fa ...
, vary in size from small fishing canoes to thirty metres long. They are still used on
Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca (; ; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...
, located on the border of
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
and
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
, 3810 m above sea level.
The
Uros
The Uru or Uros () are an indigenous people of Bolivia and Peru. They live on a still-growing group of about 120 self-fashioned floating islands in Lake Titicaca near Puno. They form three main groups: the Uru-Chipaya, Uru-Murato, and Uru ...
are an indigenous people pre-dating the
Incas
The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The Inca civilisation rose fr ...
. They live, still today, on man-made
floating island
A floating island is a mass of floating aquatic plants, mud, and peat ranging in thickness from several centimeters to a few meters. Sometimes referred to as ''tussocks'', ''floatons'', or ''suds'', floating islands are found in many parts of t ...
s scattered across
Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca (; ; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...
. These islands are also constructed from totora reeds.
Encyclopædia Britannica
The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
Online
Lake Titicaca
Retrieved 12 July 2007. Each floating island supports between three and ten houses, also built of reeds.
The Uros still build totora reed boats, which they use for fishing and hunting seabirds.
Reed boat craftsmen from Suriqui, a town on the Bolivian side of lake Titicaca, helped
Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and Ethnography, ethnographer with a background in biology with specialization in zoology, botany and geography.
Heyerdahl is notable for his Kon-Tiki expediti ...
construct ''
Ra II'' and ''Tigris''.
Thor Heyerdahl attempted to prove that the reed boats of Lake Titicaca derived from the papyrus boats of Egypt.
Near the south-eastern shore of Lake Titicaca lie the ruins of the ancient city state of
Tiwanaku
Tiwanaku ( or ) is a Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia, near Lake Titicaca, about 70 kilometers from La Paz, and it is one of the largest sites in South America. Surface remains currently cover around 4 square kilometers and in ...
. Tiwanaku contains monumental architecture characterized by large stones of exceptional workmanship.
[Isbell, W. H., 2004, ''Palaces and Politics in the Andean Middle Horizon.'' in S. T. Evans and J. Pillsbury, eds., pp. 191-246]
Palaces of the Ancient New World.
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Washington, D.C. Green
andesite
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
stones, that were used to create elaborate carvings and monoliths, originated from the Copacabana peninsula, located across Lake Titicaca.
[Ponce Sanginés, C. and G. M. Terrazas, 1970, ''Acerca De La Procedencia Del Material Lítico De Los Monumentos De Tiwanaku.'' Publication no. 21. Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Bolivia] One theory is that these giant andesite stones, which weigh over 40 tons were transported some 90 kilometres across Lake Titicaca on reed boats.
File:Reed Islands of Lake Titicaca.jpg, A floating reed island on Lake Titicaca
File:Iles Flottantes Titicaca (pixinn.net).jpg, Uros
The Uru or Uros () are an indigenous people of Bolivia and Peru. They live on a still-growing group of about 120 self-fashioned floating islands in Lake Titicaca near Puno. They form three main groups: the Uru-Chipaya, Uru-Murato, and Uru ...
harvesting totora on Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca (; ; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...
, used traditionally to build reed boats
File:Urso man pulling boat.jpg, Uro man pulling a boat made of totora reeds
File:Titicaca.JPG, Uro-Indian at work in a reed boat
File:Titicaca 9921a.jpg, Back on the floating island with the catch
Reed boats were also constructed using totora reeds on
Easter Island
Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...
. Intriguingly, the design of these boats closely matches the design used in Peru.
Other examples
*
Tule
''Schoenoplectus acutus'' ( syn. ''Scirpus acutus, Schoenoplectus lacustris, Scirpus lacustris'' subsp. ''acutus''), called tule , common tule, hardstem tule, tule rush, hardstem bulrush, or viscid bulrush, is a giant species of sedge in the p ...
reeds, which are widespread in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
, were used to construct reed boats by various
Native American groups. People from
Ohlone
The Ohlone ( ), formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the l ...
,
Coast Miwok
The Coast Miwok are an Indigenous people of California that were the second-largest tribe of the Miwok people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of present-day Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golde ...
and
Bay Miwok
The Bay Miwok are a cultural and linguistic group of Miwok, a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people in Northern California who live in Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa County. They joined the Franciscan missi ...
used tule to build boats for use in the San Francisco Bay estuary. Northern groups of
Chumash
Chumash may refer to:
*Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism
*Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California
*Chumashan languages, Indigenous languages of California
See also
* Pentateuch (dis ...
also used tule to construct reed fishing canoes.
* As well as Peru and Bolivia, reed boats are still built in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
. and were used until recently in
Corfu
Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...
.
* In the account given by
Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...
of the
Eridu Genesis
Eridu Genesis, also called the Sumerian Creation Myth or Sumerian Flood Myth, offers a description of the story surrounding how humanity was created by the gods, the circumstances leading to the origins of the first cities in Mesopotamia, how the o ...
is the claim that the reed boat constructed by
Xisuthrus survived, at least until
Berossus
Berossus () or Berosus (; ; possibly derived from ) was an early-3rd-century BCE Hellenistic civilization, Hellenistic-era Babylonia, Babylonian writer, priest of Bel (mythology) , Bel Marduk, and Babylonian astronomy, astronomer who wrote i ...
' day, in the "Corcyrean Mountains" of
Armenia
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
.
* Mokihi are made traditionally from raupo or korari in New Zealand. Still being constructed on the Waitaki rive
and in South Westlan
* Prayer boats are used in a Hindu religious festival which takes place every year on the banks of the river Ganges where thousands of people burn incense and candles on small reed boats and float them down the river at night, the boats carrying their wishes and prayers.
* In 1836,
Narcissa Whitman described reed boats pulled by Indians on horse back at Snake Fort,
Fort Boise
Fort Boise is either of two different locations in the Western United States, both in southwestern Idaho. The first was a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) trading post near the Snake River on what is now the Oregon border (in present-day Canyon Count ...
.
* In 2007, the reed boat ''
Abora3'', captained by the German scientist Dominique Görlitz, set out from New York to prove that other intercontinental sea journeys were possible in reed boats.
* Some
coracle
A coracle is a small, rounded, lightweight boat of the sort traditionally used in Wales, and also in parts of the west of Ireland and also particularly on the River Boyne, and in Scotland, particularly the River Spey. The word is also used for ...
boats are also built out of reeds (see photo below).
Gallery
File:Aymara Totora Reed Boat on display at the Smithsonian, Washington, DC.jpg, Aymara Totora Reed Boat on display at the Smithsonian, Washington, DC
File:Passengers Maneuver Motorcycle out of Reed Boat - Near Hampi - India.JPG, Passengers manoeuvre a motorcycle out of a woven-reed coracle
A coracle is a small, rounded, lightweight boat of the sort traditionally used in Wales, and also in parts of the west of Ireland and also particularly on the River Boyne, and in Scotland, particularly the River Spey. The word is also used for ...
ferry, near Hampi
Hampi or Hampe (), also referred to as the Group of Monuments at Hampi, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the town of Hampi in Vijayanagara district, east-central Karnataka, India. Hampi predates the Vijayanagara Empire; it is menti ...
village, India. July 2008.
File:HMB AE 368 - Barke mit Menschenfiguren.jpg, Burial object, barque with two human figures, Gebelein, Upper Egypt. Probably Naqada II, 3400-3200 BC. Clay-covered reed, 46 cm in length.
File:Tigris Model Pyramids of Guimar.jpg, Model of the ''Tigris'' at the Pyramids of Güímar, Tenerife
Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...
.
File:Peru Huanchaco Typical Fisherman reed boats.jpg, Contemporary reed boats stacked on a beach in Peru
File:Fishermen, Lake Tana (2260748777).jpg, Fishermen cast their lines from papyrus boats ''( tankwas)'' on Lake Tana
Lake Tana (; previously transcribed Tsana) is the largest lake in Ethiopia and a source of the Blue Nile. Located in Amhara Region in the north-western Ethiopian Highlands, the lake is approximately long and wide, with a maximum depth of , and ...
in northern Ethiopia
See also
*
Abora (expeditions)
*
The Viracocha expedition
*
Balsa (ship)
A balsa is a boat or ship built by various pre-Columbian South American civilizations constructed from woven reeds of the totora bulrush. They varied in size from small canoe sized personal fishing boats to large ships up to 30 metres long. They ...
*
Bipod mast
*
Caballito de totora
*
Cyperus papyrus
''Cyperus papyrus'', better known by the common names papyrus, papyrus sedge, paper reed, Indian matting plant, or Nile grass, is a species of aquatic plant, aquatic flowering plant belonging to the sedge family Cyperaceae. It is a Hardiness (pla ...
*
Kitín Muñoz
*
Traditional fishing boats
*
Totora (plant)
*
Tormod Granheim
*
Tule
''Schoenoplectus acutus'' ( syn. ''Scirpus acutus, Schoenoplectus lacustris, Scirpus lacustris'' subsp. ''acutus''), called tule , common tule, hardstem tule, tule rush, hardstem bulrush, or viscid bulrush, is a giant species of sedge in the p ...
*
Xisuthros
Notes
References
*
External links
World of Boats (EISCA) Collection ~ Vietnamese Basket BoatPapyrus reed boat or "tankwa", Lake Tanaby Majestic Moose. Flickr, April 2008, retrieved March 26, 2010
from "Window to Baku"
construction photo
Ohlone
The Ohlone ( ), formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the l ...
, launched on Lake Merced, San Francisco
Tule reed canoe Modoc
{{Commons category, Reed boats
Indigenous boats