Archaeologica.org

Early members of the human family such as Homo erectus are now known to have crossed several kilometers of deep water more than a million years ago in Indonesia, to islands such as Flores and Sulawesi. Modern humans braved treacherous waters to reach Australia by 65,000 years ago. But in both cases, some archaeologists say early seafarers might have embarked by accident, perhaps swept out to sea by tsunamis.

Jesus. Are they still trotting that nonsense out. Just admit it. HE built BOATS!

What's next? Vegetation mats?

They give their bow to their instructors.

“But in both cases, some archaeologists say early seafarers might have embarked by accident, perhaps swept out to sea by tsunamis.”

But it is clearly a polite CYA.

Early members of the human family such as Homo erectus are now known to have crossed several kilometers of deep water more than a million years ago in Indonesia, to islands such as Flores and Sulawesi. Modern humans braved treacherous waters to reach Australia by 65,000 years ago. But in both cases, some archaeologists say early seafarers might have embarked by accident, perhaps swept out to sea by tsunamis.

Having had the profound misfortune of bering in a country hit by the great Pacific Tsunami I cannot recall anyone suggesting it made a handy way to travel.

And even if it did you would surely need whole group to hitch a ride.

It's called "grasping at straws" by the gang which simply refuses to admit that HE was pretty damn capable of living in their world.

Just a few notes on this.

min, it would have been dugouts, not boats.

We have had an excavation bias towards Africa and the earliest sites.
The landscape was quite different in early times due to lower sea levels, so early coastal sites have not been looked at all.
Then you have impact mega-tsunami effects on sites slightly inland as well.
China had been unworked due to the chaos there. That chaos is over, and there is funding now.

I expect that work will certainly be done on very early sites along the coasts in Saudi Arabia.
Coastal India? India is pretty poor and faces massive problems.
SE Asia? Tough to work because of the depth, but the finds at that impact site in Malaysia are going to be worked.

Be sure to watch my video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCD9u7XGC8w

Circumspice wrote: "I find it hilarious that they would expect people to believe that an entire, viable breeding population could ever be accidentally transported via tsunami wave, to be deposited on the shores of a distant island, then survive long enough to leave evidence of their presence in the archaeological record. Then repeat that process for every distant land mass that has what they consider anomalous artifacts in the archaeological record. REALLY?"

Anthropologist John Moore of the Univ. of Florida addressed this question a few years ago with his Ethnopop program. Establishing a diverse, successful population in a new, unpopulated area requires about 80 people (i.e. 40 couples) to prevent an inevitable extinction. People went places on purpose, H erectus or otherwise, and to assume that a tsunami did it requires some serious therapy.

Hey, Cogs. How the hell are you?

Minimalist wrote:Hey, Cogs. How the hell are you?

Hey Min, doing much better than those archaics who rode the tsunami to Australia.

Keeping busy and out of trouble (most of the time). And you? You ready for this summer's heat?

Oh, yeah. There were times over the winter when I was complaining about the cold. The old joints just can take the chill anymore. Give me a little triple-digits!