This documentary is obviously not about Carolinian or Polynesian sea craft and navigation methods. Still, I though it might be interesting to see and compare the similarities and differences between Viking craft and methods and Carolinian ones. The environments were quite different, of course. In the north, it was often cold and icy, whereas we enjoy(ed) a tropical climate; large, continent-like land masses versus rather small islands. Some more recent Viking records still exist, whereas very little exists from Carolinian and other Pacific cultures. Our written records and documentation are more recent, coming with people like Thomas Gladwin and David Lewis. Some canoe arts have been dug up by archaeologists in other parts of the Pacific, but I dont know of any Carolinian canoes from hundreds of years ago. Of course, some may survive to this day by way of piece-by-piece replacement of planks and parts over the years and centuries. A couple of Viking ships from over a thousand years ago have been discovered and preserved. Viking ships and sailing belong to history, whereas Carolinian —and in recent decades, thanks to Mau Piailug, Polynesian— canoes and navigation knowledge are *still in use*. Some readers of Ngaang ReFaulwasch themselves might have even gone on long or short voyages, as I have (short ones). I fear, however, that this knowledge, technology, and experience is very much in danger of being relegated to history —as Piailug himself feared, and we in our lifetimes might well be witnessing that happening right before our eyes. It has occurred to me that some day, we might need people like Nāinoa Thompson and his followers to teach back to us what Piailug helped them recover from their past. https://youtube/watch?v=lV2Admuklxs
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 07:57:15 +0000
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