Modified: 2022-11-16
Oatley (1977) described how mariners possessing only Stone Age technology navigated the Pacific Ocean starting about 3,500 years ago. Naturally, such navigation was accomplished without the benefit of charts, compasses, or sextants, all of which were common tools for 18th century European explorers. By analyzing how native navigators from the Caroline Island group (the Caroline Islands are part of Micronesia, an archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean) sailed from one island to the next, he was able to describe the cognitive steps required. First, a navigator had to possess a cognitive map of “perhaps 50 to 100 islands in his archipelago, the courses in terms of star rising or setting points between each pair, and sailing directions including information about currents, sea marks, and the characteristics of destination islands for each voyage (p. 543).” Today, learning this information necessitates a long apprenticeship aided by mnemonic memory aids. Navigators also internalize a 32-point conceptual compass created by the rising and setting points of specific stars.
Actual navigation is accomplished by steering the boat in straight line while always keeping an unseen reference island in mind. Oatley compares this to walking a straight line while always paying attention to an unmoving object, “The task is somewhat like walking in a straight line between two chairs in a large room with one’s eyes shut, while continually pointing to a third chair off to one side of the path (p. 543).” Another key to navigation is the cognitive map in the navigator’s mind. Oatley notes that a navigator imagines his boat as stationary and that the islands are moving, as if on a conveyor belt, past the boat. When navigators know they are close to their destination (e.g., 20 miles or less), they might look for land birds to follow home at dusk or to watch if clouds in the distance are slowed as they pass over the convection currents of a yet unseen island.
As you might imagine, modern navigational methods including the global positioning system are rapidly replacing these ancient methods. In the near future there will likely remain no one who can navigate in the old way.