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Researchers Replicate 30,000-Year-Old Canoe Voyage Across Kuroshio Current

Published today in Science Advances, the research demonstrates that ancient navigators could cross the Kuroshio current from Taiwan to the Ryukyus using a dugout canoe made with Paleolithic tools.

A dugout canoe with four men and one woman paddling is pictured during a crossing across a region of the East China Sea from near Ushibi, Taiwan to Yonaguni Island, traversing the Kuroshio current, in this handout image released on June 25, 2025. Yousuke Kaifu/Handout via REUTERS
Researcher Kunihiro Amemiya uses a period-accurate axe to chop down a Japanese cedar tree in Noto Peninsula, Japan, to make a dugout canoe for a crossing across a region of the East China Sea from Taiwan to Yonaguni Island, in this handout image released on June 25, 2025. Yousuke Kaifu/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
© photograph by Yousuke Kaifu
An axe accurate to a period of 30,000 years ago, that scientists used to make a dugout canoe for a crossing across a region of the East China Sea from Taiwan near Ushibi to Yonaguni Island, traversing the Kuroshio current, is seen at Noto Peninsula, Japan, in this handout image released on June 25, 2025. Yousuke Kaifu/Handout via REUTERS

Overview

  • The 7.5-meter canoe was carved from Japanese cedar using edge-ground stone axes and adzes modeled on Upper Paleolithic tools.
  • A crew of four men and one woman paddled the vessel across the 140-mile (225 km) route from eastern Taiwan to Yonaguni Island in just over 45 hours.
  • Prior experiments with reed-bundle and bamboo rafts failed to overcome the Kuroshio’s strength, highlighting the dugout’s superior speed and durability.
  • Paleo-ocean simulations of sea conditions 30,000 years ago confirmed that seasonal currents and strategic departure points could enable the crossing.
  • The study offers experimental support for archaeological evidence that Paleolithic peoples reached the Ryukyu Islands around 30,000 years ago.