ABOUT THOSE 6,000 YEAR OLD COLUMBIAN SKELETONS...

[Mohgarr]

@Annwn

His first attempt was unsuccessful and it was only after he had enlisted the help of native boat builders from Lake Titikaka in the Andes that he was successful.

It’s been a great while since I’ve read “Voyage of Ra”, but the part that stands out in my memory was that when they were building the boat based on the hieroglyphs, etc… they changed the design of the rudder which was represented in the pictures as having a section near the handle that was deliberately notched out so as to be thinner that the rest of the control shaft. Essentially, they thought that this notch was a stylistic/artistic interpretation and decided to make the entire rudder control rod the same size (thinking it would be stronger)…

It was only once they were at sea and encountering choppy waters that they discovered the notched out area was indeed there for a purpose…to act as a “key” that would allow the rudder control to break in an area where repairs could be made at sea rather than tearing off that entire section of the boat when stressed. Woodruff keys are used in many places for today’s engines for the same reason…to allow the soft metal key to break rather than the expensive internal components.

As I said…it’s been a while so give me some rope if my facts are off a bit. Just impressed me so much at the time that I still remember it…

[Annwn]

Well, it’s been about a decade since I read The Ra Expeditions, when I was in Bolivia. I’m sure what you say is correct, and doubtless it was a major factor in the ability of Ra II to cross the Atlantic. I remembered the Bolivian connection, however, because it was relevant to my own research and because I don’t possess your technical knowledge of seamanship and shipbuilding. I shall look it up in my copy of the book, so thanks.

Ra II was built in Morocco by a team of Bolivians whom Heyerdahl had smuggled into the country. His account of how this was done leaves little doubt that he relied heavily on their expertise in building the traditional tortora reed boats used by the Aymara people:

The four taciturn Indians … organised the building of Ra II in masterly fashion with a handful of Moroccan helpers.

For linguistic reasons alone, Heyerdahl needed to delegate the project to the Bolivians, as he watched them build the craft according to their millennia old traditional design. (His detailed description of how they set about this is on page 317 of the Penguin edition published in the UK.) I should say that the mastery of their craft was all the greater, because they did not use tortora reeds, which grow in the Andes, but had to use papyrus instead. Heyerdahl’s stated reason for wanting a traditional Aymara reed boat was:

Even if the real secret of their ancient technique seemed to have gone unnoticed by laymen and scholars alike, our own research and experiments had proved that this Lake Titicaca method was the only one which could produce a vessel with shape and lashing concurring with details on ancient reliefs from the Near East.

Of course, none of this precludes ancient contacts across the Pacific with South America. The presence of tortora reeds and sweet potato tubers on Easter Island before its ‘discovery’ by Europeans more than suggests this was so. I have commented elsewhere here on how anthropological and genetic evidence concerning those same connections has been suppressed by the South American academic establishment. Ultimately, they dance to the tune of their corporate military-industrial paymasters, but that’s a whole new can of epistemological worms.

[Bill10558]

If one stops to contemplate and knew of the information that’s been suppressed, destroyed and altered, our mind would probably blow. Here on this site thanks to the many curious individuals, we at least get snippets of it. Thanks all.

[MarkSean]

Here is quite the brain trust. May it always be available into the future.