A stepped stone adze on display at Xiamen University's Anthropology Museum sheds light on prehistoric seafaring and the origins of Austronesian peoples.
The tool's raised ridge helped secure its wooden handle, making it effective for hollowing logs into canoes.
Archaeologist Lin Huixiang, the museum's founding director, proposed that the tool originated in southeastern China and spread to the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Pacific with prehistoric migration. His research provided archaeological evidence supporting the theory that Austronesian peoples originated in southeastern China.
In 2010, a Polynesian descendant named Ilya sailed a traditional outrigger canoe from Tahiti to Mawei Port in Fujian province, completing the voyage in 116 days and demonstrating the feasibility of long-distance travel using traditional seafaring technology.
