Ancient Ocean Navigation
Before charts, sextants and compasses, how did ancient cultures navigate the seas? History suggests that some of the earliest of navigation techniques were by using observations of the sun and stars. Other cultures relied on very basic methods such as simply following the coastline or watching for birds.
While ancient Mediterranean cultures may have been developing charts and celestial navigation, the ancient Polynesians, who navigated the largest ocean of all, were developing much different navigational methods. Methods that would allow them to populate remote islands throughout the vast Pacific Ocean. But how did they accomplish this feat?
According to some historical clues or insights, the Polynesians used methods to navigate that were much more in tune with the ocean below, than the celestial bodies above.
Europeans began seeing what looked to be maps made by the Polynesians. They were made of sticks, constructed very similar to what we would think of as a basket weaving technique. But after closer examination, these flat, woven together sticks, were not crude maps, but intricate illustrations of waves and wave reflections, called mattangs.
The ancient Polynesians were navigating these huge expanses of oceans, partly by closely monitoring wave properties. They realized that swells, waves and currents had patterns that were discernible. Some waves were very consistent and predictable, whereas waves that were unique might be indicative of being reflected waves from islands. For example, some waves may be due to ocean currents or winds, whereas unique waves or different waves might be the reflection of larger waves against the coast of an island.
More than likely these Polynesian ocean travelers also used other methods, as well. Birds, cloud formations and things like flotsam (debris floating in the water) may have also provided clues to the locations of islands. They may have also used stellar guides as well.
Early Polynesian navigators may have passed along these techniques from father to son. It may have been a revered status or position of honor to explore the ocean and discover new islands.
