It’s very impressive for its age, but I don’t think it will float well with that hole.
For real though, we learned about these in school. For something made with stone age tools, it’s really in fantastic condition over a thousand years later. Quite humbling
Charred (carbonized) wood is very resistant to rot and insect damage. Older Japanese houses were built mostly out of wood with wood joinery, due to limited iron resources on the island. They’d char the outside of the building as a rot and insect damage resistant finish.
I don’t know if this is the case here, but a number of early canoe-building cultures would burn out the core rather than having to cut it out. Perhaps this was a failed attempt to do that, or it broke through due to aging.
It’s very impressive for its age, but I don’t think it will float well with that hole.
For real though, we learned about these in school. For something made with stone age tools, it’s really in fantastic condition over a thousand years later. Quite humbling
Don’t think it’s a hole. Iirc they charred it for some reason and it looks like that spot was over charred and just the surface fell off over time.
Charred (carbonized) wood is very resistant to rot and insect damage. Older Japanese houses were built mostly out of wood with wood joinery, due to limited iron resources on the island. They’d char the outside of the building as a rot and insect damage resistant finish.
https://youtu.be/O8TbbRK4MDs
I don’t know if this is the case here, but a number of early canoe-building cultures would burn out the core rather than having to cut it out. Perhaps this was a failed attempt to do that, or it broke through due to aging.