Reed boat
Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 2:49 pm
Reed boatbuilding is an occupation which has a long tradition and is found kept alive today by the Aymara and Uru boatbuilders on Lake Titicaca, high in the Andes of South America. Small vessels are also still built along the Pacific shores of Peru for coastal fishing. In Africa, reed boats are still in use upon Lake Chad whilst reed boats have a long tradition in what is now southern Iraq where in ancient times they reached giant proportions of some 495 feet according to Thor Heyerdahl. In the construction of reed boats it is important to note that this is a traditional craft handed down from generation to generation. Therefore there do not exist lines plans or drawings in the sense of constructing wooden boats or in modern materials such as fibreglass. The charm of the boat lies in the fact that it is constructed by traditional methods depending largely on the skills of the builder. The technique used for building a reed boat in the area of Lake Titicaca is the most ancient, and it is also very effective for navigation because it has remained constant and well defined in its operation resulting in a consistently stable craft. Totora reeds grow in South America, particularly around Lake Titicaca, and also on Easter Island. These reeds have been used by various pre-Columbian South American civilizations to build reed boats. The boats, called balsa, vary in size from small fishing canoes to thirty metres long. They are still used on Lake Titicaca, located on the border of Peru and Bolivia, 3810 m above sea level. The Uros are an indigenous people pre-dating the Incas. They live, still today, on man-madefloating islands scattered across Lake Titicaca. These islands are also constructed from totora reeds. 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 boats were also constructed using totora reeds on Easter Island. Intriguingly, the design of these boats closely matches the design used in Peru. The reed boat comprises two individual hulls or cylindrical cores which are bound together by attachment to a smaller central core using a single continuous rope in a spiral fashion thus forming a single united hull from the component reed cylinders. The boat is then equipped with accessories necessary for voyaging, like a sail, which can be made out of reed or fabric, two wooden (eucalyptus) masts which support the sail, and ropes or cords to manage the sail during use.The building of reed boats in totora on the island of Suriki is traditional, the technique used is thousands of years old and constitutes ancestral knowledge. Thor Heyerdahl gave this opinion on this technique of boatbuilding: "But they knew how to create boats from reeds and with a perfection which no engineer, naval architect or archaeologist of our modern world could emulate."
On the picture:Traditional reed boat on Lake Titicaca.
Uganda200…Ms(3x1000). Bolivia 2009;7,0bs;SG? Peru1973;SG198.
Source: http://www.atlantisbolivia.org/areedboathistory.htm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_boat.
Reed boats were also constructed using totora reeds on Easter Island. Intriguingly, the design of these boats closely matches the design used in Peru. The reed boat comprises two individual hulls or cylindrical cores which are bound together by attachment to a smaller central core using a single continuous rope in a spiral fashion thus forming a single united hull from the component reed cylinders. The boat is then equipped with accessories necessary for voyaging, like a sail, which can be made out of reed or fabric, two wooden (eucalyptus) masts which support the sail, and ropes or cords to manage the sail during use.The building of reed boats in totora on the island of Suriki is traditional, the technique used is thousands of years old and constitutes ancestral knowledge. Thor Heyerdahl gave this opinion on this technique of boatbuilding: "But they knew how to create boats from reeds and with a perfection which no engineer, naval architect or archaeologist of our modern world could emulate."
On the picture:Traditional reed boat on Lake Titicaca.
Uganda200…Ms(3x1000). Bolivia 2009;7,0bs;SG? Peru1973;SG198.
Source: http://www.atlantisbolivia.org/areedboathistory.htm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_boat.