The first Neolithic boats in the Mediterranean: The settlement of La Marmotta (Anguillara Sabazia, Lazio, Italy)

The seaworthiness of the canoes has been demonstrated by experimental archaeology.

If it can be supposed that Neolithic crewmen must have been more experienced sailors, they would surely have covered long distances in a short time, especially in the most suitable months. In any case, experimental archaeology is providing a clear picture of the extraordinary nautical skills possessed by members of the Neolithic community at La Marmotta.

Thus, there must have been people who knew how to choose the best trees, how to cut the trunk and hollow it by burning out its middle, and how to stabilise the dugout with transversal reinforcements on its base, or perhaps by the use of side poles or even parallel canoes in the form of a catamaran. To achieve this they made a series of amazingly modern artefacts, such as the T-shaped objects with two, three or four holes. These canoes and nautical technology are undoubtedly reminiscent of much more recent navigation systems. This shows that many of the major advances in sailing must have been made in the early Neolithic.