The Magnificent Boat-Makers of Yore

Kalinga was a maritime superpower. It means ancient Odias were proficient at ship-building and had sound knowledge of the seasonal winds. While contemporary and later-day literary accounts are replete with mention of the trading activities of the people of Odisha, the concrete evidence of ship-building is thrown up by marine archaeology. The first proof of it comes from Golbai in Khuda district with the discovery of a large number of adzes, a ship carpenter’s tool.