Model of a Lake Titicaca Reed Boat
date: label: date made
content: ca 1920-1940
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: People have always settled along bodies of water, especially in humankind’s earliest settlements. As long as they have populated these waterside regions, they have been crossing those waterways to get to the other side. Rafts and small boats were commonly used, and they were invariably manufactured from whatever local materials were available. In South America, the totora reed is especially abundant, and the hollow grass has been used for centuries to build rafts and boats. Lake Titicaca in the South American Andes mountain range on the border between Peru and Bolivia produced one of the earliest civilizations of the Americas, and they developed reed boats for fishing and and transport around the lake. Reed boats are still built at Lake Titicaca today.
label: Description
content: This model, probably of a small fishing boat, has tapering ends composed of four single gathers of reed bound with hemp twine. A rectangular sail composed of horizontal reeds is attached to two upright masts at the center of the boat.
label: Description
content: This model by an unidentified craftsperson was given to an employee of the Insurance Company of North America in 1946, while he was working in South America.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Maritime
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of CIGNA Museum and Art Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0279.095
label: accession number
content: 2005.0279
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0279.095
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ship model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: reeds (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: hemp (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 23 in x 30 in x 11 in; 58.42 cm x 76.2 cm x 27.94 cm
label: Measurements
content: hull: 4 in x 30 in x 8 in; 10.16 cm x 76.2 cm x 20.32 cm