Archaeologica.org

http://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/luzia.html

Luzia died in her early 20s. Although flint tools were found nearby, hers are the only human remains in Vermelha Cave.

The anatomy of her skull and teeth - including a narrow, oval cranium, projecting face and pronounced chin - likens Luzia to Africans and Australasians. Brazilian anthropologists propose that Luzia traveled across the Bering Strait, perhaps following the coastline by boat, from northeast Asia, where her ancestors had lived for tens of thousands of years since exiting Africa. Copyright © 1999 Discovery Communications Inc.

The site provides links to other finds as well.

The above speculation seems to be a forlorn hope of breathing life into the Bering Strait theory. It would mean that Luzia's group had worked their way south, bypassing an awful lot of prime real estate, before reaching the Peru area. Then, they decided to cross the Andes and head for eastern Brazil!

Why not just speculate that they rounded the Cape and worked their way up the other side?

well, we seem to be in agreement that the first people in the new world arrived by boat, and long before any land bridge existed. i'm sure we also agree there were numerous landings from different directions over many thousands of years, and it will take time for science to prove this to be true, but it will happen.

I think the coastal route was taken my most pre-Clovis peoples into the new world.

I really don't think it was anything so dramatic. Just the natural human tendancy to see what was around the next bend, or point, over generations covering thousands of miles.

But I also think that southern parts of South America were first reached from across the Pacific. Probably fleeing from intertribal warfare

Yes, Stan, that is me in my little kayak.

That little yellow kayak looks like fun.
One of my friends has a couple of them.

I actually thought kayaks were smaller than that. I just remember seeing them on the Olympic games. You take a nice picture "Cuda.

If you're thinking of Paleolithic people migrating by water don't think Kayak think Umiak

Sam Salmon wrote:If you're thinking of Paleolithic people migrating by water don't think Kayak think Umiak

now that we've discovered america. what next?


john

If you wish to boat to America from Japan you don't need to do much other than to follow the existing sea currents:



The North Pacific Kuroshio current moves at a steady 3mph. A trip of 6,000 miles would therefore take about 83 days without even paddling (which could cut the time in half). If you want to survive just follow the marine life migrating in the current, there will be plenty to eat if you're decent at fishing. Provision water for the trip, but catch any rain on the way and pray for calm weather.

Since you cannot drop bread crumbs into the water to determine a return path, make sure you memorize the stars' positions at night ... don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to do this. For fun, name the stars while you're floating along with nothing to do.

OK, Minimalist ... the motivation for taking the first trip? Following marine food as it migrates. The second trip? Following the last group of people who went over the horizon, fishing along the way. A one-way trip, traveling east seems quite plausable.

Nice map Cognito. It shows the current leading to meso-america. I've often thought that Australasians reached there by sea.

Fits nicely with another thread also.

Research Article
Ancient transpacific voyaging to the new world via Pleistocene South Pacific Islands
Steve Wyatt *
Wildwood, Missouri

*Correspondence to Steve Wyatt, 15 Whitsetts Fork Ridge Road, Wildwood, Missouri 63038

Abstract
How humans first arrived in America remains a mystery. Although the Beringian and coastal options have been discussed in detail, a transpacific route from the Old World to the New World via the islands of Oceania has been essentially ignored. Of the many factors involved in completing such a voyage, besides an adequate watercraft, landfall frequency and prevailing winds and currents were most important. A chain of islands in the landless eastern South Pacific, with its consequent and possibly favorable modifications of regional sea surface currents, would have been particularly beneficial to eastbound mariners. Comparing present-day bathymetry with estimated late Pleistocene glacially induced sea level fluctuations suggests that latent islands may actually exist, especially when the effects of other geological phenomena are also considered. If exposed during the last glacial maximum (LGM), such a chain of islands could have provided facilitating layover points for ancient eastbound seafaring explorers, thus making a transpacific journey more plausible. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Geoarchaeology
Volume 19, Issue 6 , Pages 511 - 529

Published Online: 6 Jul 2004

Anybody read this article? Something worth consideration. Prior to LGM,
a whole chain of islands once provided layover points for early transpacific sea travel. Along with the currents to move them eastward.

very interesting, roberto.

Yes, Stan, kayaking is great fun, especially when you have Monterrey Bay a short drive away. That photo is at a world famous surfing site, Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz.

Kayaking convinced me that ancient people could cover thousands of miles in small boats. A friend recently kayaked from Okinawa to the main island in Japan. Almost 300 miles, but there were small islands along the way.

Beagle, that kayak is about 13'. Kayaks for whitewater river running and for surfing can be as short as 9', but racing kayaks can be up to 20' long.

Sam, you are correct. Umiak is Inuit for "Women's Boat." They were made to carry the women, children, and equipment. A Kayak is a single man's boat for hunting seals. If it capsizes you can do an "Eskimo roll" and roll back up. It could not carry enough provisions for a really long trip.

But I think the Polynesian Outrigger Canoe is the only boat of ancient origin that could have crossed the Pacific.

Roberto, I agree with Gruna. Thanks.

'Cuda, thanks for explaining that to me. I don't know anything about kayaks.

The second trip? Following the last group of people who went over the horizon, fishing along the way. A one-way trip, traveling east seems quite plausable.

That implies some sort of cultural affinity between groups that, I don't think, has been established yet.

The one-way trip does seem plausible but would enough of them have been made to populate two continents?

I'm sure that the migration to the Americas occurred over an 8-10,000 year period, maybe longer.

That's a long time.