Description: The exploration and colonisation of the Pacific is a remarkable episode of human prehistory. Early sea-going explorers had no prior knowledge of Pacific geography, no documents to record their route, no metal, no instruments for measuring time and none for exploration. Forty years of modern archaeology, experimental voyages in rafts, and computer simulations of voyages have produced an enormous range of literature on this controversial and mysterious subject. This book represents a major advance in knowledge of the settlement of the Pacific by suggesting that exploration was rapid and purposeful, undertaken systematically, and that navigation methods progressively improved. Using an innovative model to establish a detailed theory of navigation, Geoffrey Irwin claims that rather than sailing randomly downwind in search of the unknown, Pacific Islanders expanded settlement by the cautious strategy of exploring upwind, so as to ease their safe return. The author has tested this hypothesis against the chronological data from archaeological investigation, with a computer simulation of demographic and exploration patterns and by sailing throughout the region himself.
Price: 68.01 AUD
Location: Hillsdale, NSW
End Time: 2024-12-07T12:21:53.000Z
Shipping Cost: 32.47 AUD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
Returns Accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 60 Days
Return policy details:
EAN: 9780521476515
UPC: 9780521476515
ISBN: 9780521476515
MPN: N/A
Item Length: 24.7 cm
Book Title: The Prehistoric Exploration and Colonisation of the Pacific
Item Height: 246mm
Item Width: 189mm
Author: Geoffrey Irwin
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Topic: Archaeology, History
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Year: 1994
Type: Textbook
Item Weight: 470g
Number of Pages: 260 Pages
