XXVI Congreso Internacional de Americanistas

- 320 ­
In Tierra del Fuego tor the beliet that these two occurrences, as matntainecl
by Koppers, have been clerived from a common point of origin in
r\sia whence they \\'ere can-ied to 01' diffused to the Pacific on the ol1e
hanu America via Bering Strait 011 the other, is 110t only more plausible
on general principIes of early human movements but is also supported by
lhe p resenee of this leehnique in Japan (O, T. Masan).
Further­
J1l(lre, \\e-cannot be cenain as to the antiquity of these coiled baskets in
Austra lia.
They see m to have been lacking in Tasmania, although U!1­
supported ciaims have been made to the contrary, and in being confined
to eastern Australia from Victoria and South Australia to Torres
Strait, their sporadic di.stribution suggests that they may represent an
old diffusio!l from New Guinea, but not neeessarily one of great antiquity
(Davidson, 1).
'fhere is some doubt, therefore, as to their age in Australia.
At lea st the faels suggest that we have no right to take an antiquity
of 6,000 years for g ranted.
Ba,rf¿ Canoes of Se'veraJ Pieces,-Now it has been admitted by Rivet
in his earlier stud ies that none of the types of watercraft found hi storieally
in either Australia 01' Tierra del Fuego eould have been employed
in a transoceanic migration.
He therefore was forced to suppose that
some superior sca-going craft had been known to the Australlans some
3,000 years ago and that for reasons unexplained they were discarded
slIbsequently, both by the Australians who remained at home and by
the ,,\ustraI ians who macle the hypothetical jOllrney to South America.
For these assumptions tbere is 1l0l a parttcle of evidence.
Not only are
there !lO data frOI11 either area \vhich wO llJd even hint that there ever
has been present any craÚ superior to those found in historic times, but
a theory of degeneration, with its insinuation tbat both peoples had lost
interest in the sea , is al so contrary to the available ,facts from both reglo
ns. \¡Vhat tite interests of the Australians may have been some 3,000
yeai's ago oi course is illlpossible to say, but the modern aborigines, far
trcm turnillg from lhe ~ ea,
have shown a 1110st eager IJJ, erest to acquire
more advanced types of watercraft ¿nd, if we may judge from the distl'ibulion
of types oi wat¿rcraft in Australia (lnd the known directions
of diffusion during the past eentury or more, it appears that the same
conditioJJs ha ve prevailecl tal' many hund reds of years if not 'for a greater
period oi time (Davidson, Il).
'vVe have an abundance of information to show th e rapid cliffusion
during the past century of foreign craft -three types of Melanesian
olltrigger canoe in the Cape York Peninsu la, and Malay dogouts in
North Australia- all of which have been recently introduced 011 the conrinell
t and taken over with celerity by the Australians. The dOgOllt