Abstract
In order to take advantage of the resources and opportunities offered by their proximity to the fertile eastern Pacific Ocean, prehistoric inhabitants of the Andean coast of South America developed several types of watercraft. Chief among these was the log balsa, a raft constructed of balsa tree trunks lashed together with henequen, covered with one or more decks of cane or reed, and fitted with crescent-rigged sails and guaras, or centerboards. Though the seaworthiness of the balsa (along with the seafaring aptitude of those who built and sailed it) has been the subject of critically biased, often conflicting accounts over the nearly five centuries since contact, an assessment of its aboriginal design and construction demonstrates that this craft was both exceptionally seaworthy and admirably suited for its purposes. The latter included fishing and coastal trade, and may also have included lengthier voyages of commerce and exploration. The balsa logs used for the deck, which maintained excellent long-term buoyancy after an initial period of water absorption, kept the raft afloat on rolling seas and allowed seawater to wash through the structure, preventing it from swamping. The upper decks imposed on the log frame allowed for sensitive cargo to be kept high and dry during ocean voyages, and the straw huts and cooking pits integrated into the decking of many balsas allowed seafarers access to subsistence and comfort while at sea. The combination of highly aerodynamic crescent-rigged sails and guaras, long wooden foils which protruded from the bottom of the raft‟s deck at fore and aft, and which were raised and lowered below the waterline in tandem with sail adjustments to make course adjustments, made the balsa a highly maneuverable craft that was capable of efficiently sailing in any direction with respect to wind. Though these rafts appeared primitive to many of the ship-sailing Europeans who saw and wrote about them, the aboriginal balsas of the pre-Columbian Andean coast were both well-designed and admirably suited for their purposes.
Read the entire paper here: http://www.jeffemanuel.net/files/Emanuel_Pre-Columbian-Seafaring-in-the-Andean-World.pdf
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