Tuesday, May 29, 2007

German man hopes to sailreed raft across Atlantic

http://tinyurl.com/22qrlk (newsday.com)
Dominique Gorlitz, 40, a former school teacher from Chemnitz, Germany, says the two-month journey he and 11 others will make on 41-foot-long craft will prove people could have traveled across the Atlantic Ocean in prehistoric times. . . . More than 25 volunteers are working on the craft at Liberty Landing Marina. Gorlitz based the craft's design on a northeastern African drawing from 6,000 years ago. He said part of it was built in Bolivia by Amyra Indians and then shipped here. According to Gorlitz, the discovery of traces of tobacco and cocaine in the tomb containing the mummy of the pharaoh Ramses II in Egypt is evidence that there was trade between the Old World and New World. In addition, Gorlitz said cave drawings found in Spain demonstrate the intricate knowledge people had about currents 14,000 years ago.
But most experts don't agree."
See the above page for the full story.

Also covered on the New York Times, with a photograph of the raft (if you are asked for a username and password enter egyptnews in both fields):
http://tinyurl.com/2zn4d6

No comments: