Study traces ancient Taiwanese sailorsTAIWAN TO RYUKYU: Paleolithic seafarers might have deliberately set sail, as drifting in the ocean would not have led them to Japan’s Ryukyu Islands, a new study foundBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterAbout 30,000 years ago, ancient inhabitants of Taiwan might have intentionally crossed the Kuroshio, one of the world’s strongest currents, researchers found. Then, I ... came across the idea of using the tracking buoys,” Kaifu wrote in an e-mail to the Taipei Times. Of the 16 buoys that drifted past the Philippine main island of Luzon, only one drifted toward the Ryukyu Islands, they found. The ancient sailors could not have reached the Ryukyu Islands through random drifting, whereas bad weather conditions, although occasionally bringing some buoys closer to the islands, are unlikely to have been used by the ancient seafarers, Jan said. Yonaguni Island, the westernmost of the Ryukyu Islands, is in good weather conditions visible from some mountains in eastern Taiwan, he added.

Source: Taipei Times December 04, 2020 15:56 UTC