[HN Gopher] What a Shipwreck's Tree Rings Reveal
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       What a Shipwreck's Tree Rings Reveal
        
       Author : CapitalistCartr
       Score  : 50 points
       Date   : 2022-01-07 11:59 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.sapiens.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.sapiens.org)
        
       | meristohm wrote:
       | I learned that one type of wood was used for below the waterline
       | (slower-growing timber from further north) and a different type
       | above. I've done enough woodwork to think I have a feeling for
       | the task of building an ocean-going vessel, and I hope that
       | knowledge stays alive. I'm curious about how Polynesian voyagers
       | made their boats, and I'm guessing those methods were more
       | sustainable over millennia. Craft doesn't exist on its own
       | without culture; what is it about the dominant European
       | approaches that has lead to what feels like a runaway explosion
       | rather than the long, slow burn of human history?
        
         | klyrs wrote:
         | I learned about some research into this recently. It sounds
         | like New Zealand was set ablaze by its first settlers, to clear
         | the land, and that had a significant impact on climate
         | 
         | https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20102021/ancient-lndigeno...
        
         | pjc50 wrote:
         | See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kon-Tiki_expedition
         | 
         | > dominant European approaches that has lead to what feels like
         | a runaway explosion rather than the long, slow burn of human
         | history?
         | 
         | This is why mentioning colonialism is not irrelevant to the
         | article, because it seems like the Polynesian development was
         | not quite so rooted in thousands of years of invasion support
         | or ship-to-ship combat, which encouraged escalation.
        
       | jackfoxy wrote:
        
         | ___q wrote:
         | What virtue are they "signalling?" Do you know what the Dutch
         | East India Company was or that it resulted in several colonies?
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Former_settlements_an...
         | 
         | It appears in the subheading because it's relevant to the
         | article
         | 
         | > Knowing more about these timbers helps us understand the
         | Dutch success in world trade
        
         | klyrs wrote:
         | Is it taboo to even mention facts of history in such neutral
         | terms? Is that not what the ships were used for? And if that's
         | virtue signalling, then what precisely do you intend to signal
         | here?
        
         | gerald_yo wrote:
         | Does it distract from the article?
        
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       (page generated 2022-01-09 23:01 UTC)