Prehistoric petroglyphs served as a basis for the reconstruction

Components – the hull, cabins and steering gear

The following depicted rock paintings and drawings are a selection of representative illustrations which form one of the most important foundations for the reconstruction of reed boats. They are the result of extensive literary research and research trips to Egypt, to the Canary Islands and almost all of the other big islands of the Mediterranean. In this way the project leader discovered several Stone Age depictions of reed boats with sails, which were shown to have leeboards fixed to the hull. Up to that point researchers had only interpreted these lines as oars. This discovery forms the most important explanation for the claim that people of the Stone Age could have successfully sailed upwind. Even though the depictions are rather schematic, they prove that the most important development in boat construction, i.e. the production of a sailboat capable of navigating against the wind, occurred as long ago as the Stone Age.

The following pictures illustrate the characteristics in terms of four important features.