Torres Strait islanders on a bamboo raft, 1906

Torres Strait islanders on a bamboo raft, 1906

To get from mainland Asia to Near Oceania at least 10 water crossings of 10–100 kilometres were required. Somehow people crossed these stretches of water, but no remnants of their vessels have been found. Around 50,000–25,000 BC knives had been invented but adzes, which could hollow out logs to make canoes, had not. Although it is speculation, it seems likely that the giant bamboo that grows in the region was lashed together to form rafts. Whatever form these early vessels took, they were seaworthy enough to enable people to island-hop as far east as the Solomon Islands in Near Oceania.