Ancient Sewn Boats of Kerala (India)

The earliest known example of a sewn boat is the 40+ meters long "Solar" funerary boat on show near the Gizeh pyramid, in Egypt; it dates back from 2,600 BCE. The sewn construction was a natural step from reed boatbuilding, which dates from some thousands of years before that. In addition, iconographic data— which is often difficult to interpret— appears to confirm the use of this technique in the Mediterranean from at least the Bronze Age. For example, Basch (1987: 70–73) interpreted the painted motifs and alignments of holes seen on several Cypriot boat models as elements indicating skins sewn on to a frame.