Skin-on-frame kayak (Inuit)
Kayak de piel sobre armazón (inuit)
- Date
- c. 2000 BCE (muy aproximado) · confidence low
- Place
- West coast of Greenland, Greenland
- Credited to
- Arctic peoples (Pre-Dorset and Dorset cultures, later Inuit)
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A closed one-person craft made of a light wood or bone frame covered with sealskin, with a cockpit hoop fitted to the hunter. It allows hunting in icy seas and can be righted with a paddle roll (the Eskimo roll).
Skin and wood rarely survive: the oldest kayaks found are about 2,000 years old and the date of 4,000 years ago is indirect; origin in Siberia or Alaska is debated.
What it led to
- hunting marine mammals from a distance in the Arctic
- the modern recreational and touring kayak
- the Greenland roll and cold-water rescue