Page 1 of 1

The spread of humanity to the Americas

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 4:47 am
by miniboes
There seems to be quite large consensus that humanity originated in Africa and migrated to the rest of the world from there. I can see how this could happen in Pangea, since all land was connected, but Pangea was 210 to 250 years ago. Thus, the spread of humanity to Australia and the Americas confuses me. This, according to Wikipedia, happened roughly 15.000 years ago. By that time, surely America and Australia were no longer connected to Africa and Eurasia. How could people without large ships get to the Americas?

Re: The spread of humanity to the Americas

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 6:32 am
by brimstoneSalad
miniboes wrote:There seems to be quite large consensus that humanity originated in China
China?
miniboes wrote:How could people without large ships get to the Americas?
If you're really determined, it can be done in a raft. But they mainly did it by land bridge, Beringia, which existed when the sea levels were lower over 11,000 years ago.

Re: The spread of humanity to the Americas

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 6:47 am
by miniboes
brimstoneSalad wrote:
miniboes wrote:There seems to be quite large consensus that humanity originated in China
China?
Sorry, I meant Africa ofcourse.
brimstoneSalad wrote:If you're really determined, it can be done in a raft. But they mainly did it by land bridge, Beringia, which existed when the sea levels were lower over 11,000 years ago.
Aha, I never heard of this, thanks.

Re: The spread of humanity to the Americas

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 10:08 am
by Jebus
There may have been three separate migrations across landbridge to Alaska, each unaware of the previous one. People reached Australia much earlier, possibly even before they reached Europe. How they got there is more of a mystery. Most likely they walked across to Java or Borneo. From there they probably island hopped their way to Australia. Sea levels were much lower than so it's possible that every island was within viewing distance.