engage in trading voyages along the Pacific coast of the Americas and
tested it to stability and seaworthiness and cargo capacity made of
the same materials as found in Ecuador. They found that shipworms were
the biggest problem and they live along the Pacific coast and devour
the balsa wood rafts quickly. The researchers found that they could
make two round trip voyages between Peru and Western Mexico before the
raft needed replacing. The rafts cannot be left in harbor long since
this is where the shipworms enter.
They found the voyages would take 6 to 8 weeks and could only be taken
when trade winds were favorable and as a result traders would have to
stay at their destinations for 6 months to a year each trip. This
would have allowed for a transfer of knowledge between widely
separated groups. The rafts had a capacity of 10 to 30 tons, the same
capacity as the barges that once plied the Erie Canal.
This is the first analysis to use modern engineering techniques to
determine design parameters and constraints of ancient watercraft to
prove the feasibility of this kind of trade.
Innovations Report has the story here;
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