Link between Indigenous Amazonian Tribes & Australasians?

[circumspice]

I ran across this old article while browsing. I wonder if there has been any follow up articles on the subject.

http://m.phys.org/news/2015-07-genetic- ... mazon.html

[Minimalist]

It's just not that unbelievable.



All you need is a boat and the currents will do the rest.

[kbs2244]

Well..
As much as I am a confirmed diffusionist,

There is a little thing called the Andes between the Pacific and the Amazon basin.
It would take more than boats.
It would take trained Limas on very high and narrow mountain pass paths.

And, of course, a reason.

[Minimalist]

I won't speculate on the reason but,

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 14377.html

Meanwhile in a separate study, archaeologists working in the southern Peruvian Andes have unearthed the remains of an early human settlement nearly 4,500 metres (15,000ft) above sea level, which would have been at the physical limits of surviving and for women to bear children, scientists said.

The archaeologists estimate that the settlement, which includes a stone shelter decorated with rock art, was occupied about 12,000 years ago, within about 2,000 years of the first humans arriving in South America from Central and North America.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

[circumspice]

Well..
As much as I am a confirmed diffusionist,

There is a little thing called the Andes between the Pacific and the Amazon basin.
It would take more than boats.
It would take trained Limas on very high and narrow mountain pass paths.

And, of course, a reason.

Limas? I'm guessing that you meant llamas...

[kbs2244]

I did indeed mean llamas.

But back to humans.....
Rather than crossing the road, they seem to have settled in the middle!
There is no mention if the settlement was on a cross range route.
Or if they ever even thought of the possibility.
So, the basic question remains.
Why?
Why would they settle in such a place?
And if it was a route, why would people use it?
If the DNA made it across the mountains, why did it?
Was the Eastern slope some kind of promised land that made the dangerous trip worth it to those that got there?
A kind of very early, reverse direction, version of the NA wagon trains?

[circumspice]

Depending upon the time frame for that migration, llamas may or may not have been used as a pack animal. The domestication of llamas may not have occurred until the people had settled at their destination. The domestication of any animal with a body weight of 100 lbs. or larger in the western hemisphere is a hotly disputed topic.

[Minimalist]

Why would they settle in such a place?

Have you seen some of the places people have chosen to occupy?

I'm always astounded when they interview some guy after a flood and he says "thank goodness that's over and we can re-build." Then the next year after the spring flood he says the same thing.

[kbs2244]

That is only too true.
I would not be living where I live now if it were not "home."
Maybe it was the view?

[circumspice]

Why must any migrating people cross the Andes in order to colonize the Amazon Basin??? What if they sailed to the north after having seen the barrier that the Andes present & make the short land crossing via the Isthmus of Darien/Panama? Why make something harder than it needs to be when the path of least resistance is readily available?

[Minimalist]

The accounts of Spanish conquistadors make it clear that crossing Panama was no walk in the park.

It's a fair question. What are the pressures that cause people to move to less (apparently) hospitable climes?

[circumspice]

The accounts of Spanish conquistadors make it clear that crossing Panama was no walk in the park.

It's a fair question. What are the pressures that cause people to move to less (apparently) hospitable climes?

Yeah, but that was in historic times... What were the conditions 15,000+ years ago? Or even 40,000+ years ago?

Climate patterns are ever changing & cyclical. Who's to say that an intrepid group of people didn't make that journey during a time of more favorable climatic conditions?

[kbs2244]

Where are EP’s sea level charts?
Was there even an isthmus to cross then?

Even today there is a low level point that has been offered as an alternative to Panama.
In fact, one of the historic pirates (Morgan?) used it to get from the Caribbean to the Pacific and sack a port thought to be safe.

And why does it have to be a west to east transfer?

[Minimalist]

There is probably a study on it out there somewhere, Circ.

[circumspice]

And why does it have to be a west to east transfer?
kbs2244 2246 12 Jul 2006, 14:47

Why indeed. It could very well have been a bidirectional migration, ebbing & flowing in both directions.