A Nebraska man paddled 38 miles down the Missouri River in a hollowed out pumpkin on Saturday, August 27, 2022, to set a Guinness World Record (see story here).
Anthropologists speculate whether the first human watercraft was a floating log, a raft, or a dugout. Who’s to say it wasn’t a gourd?
All it would take is for some neolithic to toss a pumpkin into a river, then say in neolithic tongue, “Hey, that thing floats!” about the time his clan’s enemies showed up and he needed to get out of there fast, assuming no one knew how to swim yet.