Arrival of modern humans in Southeast Asia questioned

Science Daily ^ | 8/9/17 | University of Queensland

[JimSEA]

Humans may have exited out of Africa and arrived in Southeast Asia 20,000 years earlier than previously thought, a new study involving University of Queensland researchers suggests.

Findings from the Macquarie University-led study also suggest humans could have potentially made the crossing to Australia even earlier than the accepted 60,000 to 65,000 years ago.

Dr Gilbert Price of UQ School of Earth and Environmental Sciences said the dating of a cave site in West Sumatra, called Lida Ajer, provided first evidence for rainforest use of modern humans.

"Rainforests aren't the easiest place to make a living, especially for a savannah-adapted primate, so it suggests that these people were ahead of the curve in terms of intelligence, planning and technological adaptation," Dr Price said.

Advanced equipment at UQ's Centre for Geoanalytical Mass Spectrometry, a hub backed by researchers from Queensland's major research institutions, was used in the analysis.

"We were lucky to have some of the best dating facilities in the world at our disposal, including the same pieces of equipment at UQ that had earlier dated the famous 'Hobbit' fossils of Southeast Asia," Dr Price said.

Dr Westaway said the hardest part was trying to find the site again, with only a sketch of the cave and a rough map from a copy of Dubois's original field notebook to guide them.

Southeast Asia is a key region in the path of human dispersal from Africa round to Australia, as all hominins would have had to pass through this region en route to Australia.

[JimSEA]

This ties rather directly to the "Negritos" of Southeast Asia who may be the descendants of these first peoples. They are spread through the region including those who live in the Andaman Islands and who refuse all contact with the outside world. A lot of the majority population today are identified with groups moving south from China and particularly Taiwan.

[Alas Babylon!]

And the Polynesians, originally from Taiwan, are blended in with the Melanesians they found along the way.

If you follow the people's looks from the Northwest to the Southeast, you'll see it:

Taiwanese

Philippino

East Indonesian

New Guinean

New Britain

Guadalcanal

Espiritu Santo

Fiji

Somoa

Tahitian

Easter Islander

Finally, Hawaiians

And Maoris from New Zealand

You can tell that the Taiwanese start out as a Mongoloid race, and as you go toward New Guinea, people get darker and their hair is more curly until at Papua New Guinea the people are very Australiod (proper name for the Australian Aborigines). Then the people to the East (New Britain- Espiritu Santo--Fiji-Samoa) from very dark and Australiod to more light and less Australiod, until the Polynesians at the very end point of their epic discoveries are the most mixed and neither of their original races.

[VeniVidiVici]

Humans may have exited out of Africa and arrived in Southeast Asia 20,000 years earlier than previously thought, a new study involving University of Queensland researchers suggests.

Brain Drain.

[JimSEA]

That’s quite a well put together documentation. Yes, the Negritos that remain are in isolated spots as hill tribes or islanders. Others like today’s Thai are recent arrivals from Southern China and the high river valleys of Vietnam. Even more recent are the numerous hill tribes from Tibet’s foothills. The Mon who are scattered throughout came originally from India. Quite a mix.

[Openurmind]

Thanks, I read this earlier and found it very interesting, These dates just keep getting pushed back more and more. There is a whole lot we still do not know yet but it’s getting there.

[Garth Tater]

Asian Homo Erectus skulls (pre-dating the modern Homo Sapien migration out of Africa) frequently have shovel incisors.

Modern asian Homo Sapien skulls after erectus was replaced by the modern African humans also frequently have shovel incisors. This contradicts the Out-of-Africa theory - but don't talk about it 'cuz that would hurt a lot of people's feelings.

So does this book. Don't read it.

Erectus Walks Amongst Us

[x]

What's next to it on your bookshelf? Mein Kampf ?

[Alas Babylon!]

Thanks! I’ve been across the South Pacific when I was stationed in Australia. Did a few milk runs back and forth to Hawaii.

Got to meet a wide variety of Pacific Islanders (New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, Christmas Island) and they’re all wonderful, beautiful people in their own ways.

However, they are NOT the same people. You can see where bloodlines mixed, as well as waxed and waned.

The South Pacific is a huge place, all settled by men that I believe represent some of the smartest and bravest explorers on the planet!

[Garth Tater]

My, but you read that book fast.