New excavations in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have revealed an ancient network of cargoship routes in the South Pacific.

Archaeological research suggests more than 2,000 years of connections involving Indonesia and possibly Australia before it was colonised by the UK.

Scientists have been unearthing pottery shards that have been carbon dated to show cargoships began arriving 2,700 years ago.

PNG has no known history of pottery making and the materials are foreign.

The researchers, writing for the Conversation website, said this means societies with complex seafaring technologies and widespread social connections operated on Australia’s doorstep more than 2,500 years prior to colonisation.

Rock art on the island of Dauan, further to the north, shows a Motu ship, with its characteristic crab claw-shaped sail.

The ships measured up to 20 metres in length and the sails were woven.

With sail technology coming back into focus due to emissions targets, it shows that sometimes the old ideas are the best.

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Quotes to brighten you up

Quote of the week comes from London barrister Timothy Young.

Asked about new shipping lawyer appointments to the Supreme Court on the day that Ireland was thrashing England at the home of cricket, he told TradeWinds: "Such good news. Unlike cricket at Lord's, which is where I am."

The runner-up is UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's father, Stanley, who managed to sound both confused and blase about the tanker crisis: "Of course you have this situation at the moment where we've got your ship which is called Stella, you've got our ship, which is called something else.

"Well, the best thing would be to say, look, we let your ship go, you let our ship go. Easy peasy."

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Ship name of the week

The Yemeni-owned FSO Safer, loaded with 1 million barrels of oil and currently the subject of United Nations' concerns over its deteriorating state. Safer than what? Brexit?

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Nickname of the week

Chokepoint Charlie, aka the Strait of Hormuz. Wish we'd thought of that one. But it was apparently coined by the UK navy.