Yes, I have been persuaded by Oppenheimer's argument. Prior to this change, I was a Black Sea as Noah's Flood story person
"The stories in Southeast Asia and the Pacific presumably migrated there with the population expansion. No doubt though that the flood is in the common history of ancient man--and the flood is not some local flood in the Black Sea."
The amazing thing, the expansion came from SE Asia. The original Caucasians probably came from China. And, Oppenheimer says the Gilgamesh writings mentions immigrants from the east ("wise men from the east"), I've not read Gilgamesh.
Dr Robert Schoch, (geologist/geophysist), has a book titled, Voyages Of The Pyramid Builders, that essentially has the same theme, that the world's first/great civilizations were 'seeded' from SE Asia, 7-8,000 years ago. (That was when the last Ice Age melt/surge occurred.) Both interesting and thought provoking books. I've just completed Oppenheimer's most recent book too, Out Of Eden.
Thanks for continuing my education. Terrific post.