In this video, Stephan Milo explains evidence of Neanderthals understanding how to travel long distances on water, apparently knowing how to do so for at least the last million years.

Following are points in the video:

— Sailing pre-dates writing.  International trade and ports already existed before writing arose.

— Boats from antiquity usually don’t last, but a few do exist such as a boat in Egypt built for Pharaoh Khufu 4,500 years ago, where the boat was buried along with him.

— The oldest known boat is the 10,000-year-old “Pesse Canoe” which is only 2.9 meters long.  It dates to a time period that was before people knew how to farm.

— 3,000 year old rock art in Sweden depicts a boat, 6,000 year old Egyptian pottery shows boats, and 20,000 year-old rock art in Gobustan, Azerbaijan shows a boat.

— The oldest evidence of boating is the fact that humans reached Australia about 65,000 years ago.  Australia was always an island no matter what the climate conditions were like.

— On the island of Crete, objects have been found that are potentially 110,000 years old, which could have only been made by Neanderthals.

— The Island of Flores, Indonesia, is home to a hominid named Homo Floresiensis, who is an ancestor of Homo Erectus.  Homo Erectus reached the island 800,00 to 1 million years ago!