Researchers recreate 8,000-year-old sailing technology off Israel’s coast

Researchers at the University of Haifa set out to test one possible answer by building a full-size reed boat using materials and techniques that would have been available during the Neolithic period, then sailing it off Israel’s Carmel coast. The 4-meter-long vessel, constructed from about 1,600 reeds, was recently launched at Neve Yam beach, directly opposite the submerged remains of a settlement dating to roughly the same period. Over the past four decades, archaeologists have discovered dozens of Neolithic settlement sites along the Carmel coast, stretching from Haifa to Ma’agan Michael. The sites, researched by University of Haifa archaeologist Prof. Ehud Galili, date from roughly 10,000 to 7,000 years ago and now lie between 2 and 12 meters below sea level. They were submerged as sea levels rose following the end of the last Ice Age.