The team used time-period-accurate tools to create canoes and used them to test the methods that ancient people would have used to travel across the sea in East Asia 30,000 years ago. This journey could have ranged from 138 to about 450 miles and was accomplished without metal tools, maps, or modern boats. The team used replica tools and a real tree. These simulations tested several variables, including different starting points, seasons, and paddling strategies under both ancient and modern ocean conditions. “For example, the ancient Polynesian people had no maps, but they could travel almost the entire Pacific.