A canoe is a boat made from a hollow tree trunk. The process of making canoes has been one of the oldest and oldest methods of creating watercraft since the Neolithic period. This method of boat making was a craft used in more temperate regions and was used throughout the world until this century. Since 1980, the oldest securely dated discovery of a canoe boat comes from the Netherlands, and dates from 6315 BC. However, it is uncertain whether it was actually a boat rather than another form of canoe. In 1987, a shepherd in Nigeria discovered an 8,500-year-old boat. In 1991, three canoes were discovered along the Seine in Paris, dating from the Neolithic period and aged between 5,600 and 6,500 years. Before the appearance of metal tools, canoes were dug using controlled fire. The burned wood was then removed using an adze. There is good reason to believe that fire was widely used in the distant past to hollow out objects such as dugout canoes. Eyewitnesses to the realization of...