Cross the Atlantic with a prehistoric reed boat

On July 11, a group of adventurers began a reed boat trip as prehistoric times crossed the Atlantic from North America to Europe, to rewrite history and prove that the commercial relationship between These two continents have existed since the Stone Age.

Their mission is to argue with experts who have asserted that if prehistoric people could sail from Europe to the United States due to favorable winds and currents, they could not return to their starting places.

Abora III and 12-man crew, mostly German citizens, began departing from New York to make a 6 to 9 week transatlantic ocean voyage to southern Spain. Leading the crew was Dominique Goerlitz, a German botanist and archaeologist who was passionate about prehistoric paintings of reed boats of more than 15,000 years.

With a length of 12m and a width of 4m, Abora III boat is built by a Bolivian aboriginal tribe on the shore of Lake Titicaca and there is no backup engine. It consists of two boat hulls, an 11m high mast and a linen sail with an area of ​​60m ² .

Abora III boat and crew of 12 people (Photo: York Times)

The project started five years ago and cost about 750,000 euros. Most of the capital is raised from borrowing and personal contributions from participants, including an engineer, a carpenter and two students.

'We want to provide data to experts and demonstrate boat travel at the time,' Michael Gruenert said. He asserted that the transatlantic trade relationship was before the Vikings and Christoph Columbus.

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