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Mon 13 Dec, 2004 05:11 pm
Although it seems apparent that the Eskimo population came from the Mongolians, I would be curious to know from what origins the natives of North and South America were. Does anyone have any clue?
This DNA migration pattern map, created from compiled research on DNA populations around the world, demonstrates that the first Humans originated in Africa about 130-180 thousand years ago. Notes: a) mtDNA macro-lineage L is predominant in Africa, b) mt-DNA macro-lineages M and N are found throughout Eurasia and Australia, c) mtDNA lineages H, I , J, K, T, N, U, V, W and X are predominant in West Eurasia, d) mtDNA lineages A, B, C, D, E, F, G, M, P, Q and Z are predominant in Asia and Oceania, and e) mtDNA lineages A, B, C, D, and X are found in the Americas.
From where did you take this info, Dyslexia? It seems so precise.
130-180 000, do you mean all humans or these one sin particular?
From what i know, the Native Americans were peoples who migrated from central and southern asia to siberia. Around 12, 000 years ago when the bering strait was not covered with water and was a land mass, these people migrated over the land mass into North America.
We have distinct records of their path taken through North America until they reached the Southern Tip of South America.
I suggest reading "guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, for a detailed account of the migration of natives from Siberia to The Americas.
Etruscia
Absolutely fabulous! Thanks for the reference.
No problem, im reading that book right now. Its about 500 solid pages, a great read. Although it is is so dense with info that it will take a little while to read.
How about giving me a summary, once you finish reading it?
Nah, read it for your self. The book is actually a summary of the information it is getting across, i do not think it can eb compressed anymore.
At the arrival of Europeans the population of the Americas were the descendents of Asian/Mongoloid peoples who had entered via a land bridge across the Bering Strait.
However, there is some evidence that there were earlier populations of Austronesians (Melanesians/Aust Aboriginals) from some sites in Sth America. It is theorized that they sailed there across the Pacific.
Yeah, but that theory is pretty bold and has not been proven in anyway really. Considering that there is now evidence of boatmaking that early in those regions, (ones that could get across an ocean).
Etruscia wrote:Yeah, but that theory is pretty bold and has not been proven in anyway really. Considering that there is now evidence of boatmaking that early in those regions, (ones that could get across an ocean).
Not talking about possible contact, but solid archaeological evidence.
Quote:But that theory has come under pressure over the past decade, thanks to a mosaic of archaeological evidence suggesting that the very first Americans may have come from elsewhere. Powerful new backing for the dissenters has now come from a find of 33 skulls excavated from the tip of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico, detailed in today's issue of the journal, Nature.
The researchers, led by Rolando González-José of Spain's University of Barcelona, contend that the skulls do not bear the characteristics of northeast Asians. They say the remains have more similarities with the early peoples of South Asia and the Pacific Rim, who had relatively short, narrow faces and long and narrow braincases.
source
The story in 'Nature' is here
goto
I typed in 'first americans' at the site and it found nearly 2,000 relevent hits. Might be a good starting point for some reading.
Wow . . . thanks, i was actually unaware that any evidence was found, although it is not completely "for sure". I heard sometinh about the carbon dating being wrong. Anyways, it is pretty interesting.
Gee, thanks for the article, Mr Stillwater, it was really interesting.
It makes sense that there could have been peoples from different areas, considering America is so big a continent and it must not have been so easy to travel across it (north-south).
Now, how could people from Australia or South Asia travel to America, unless the continents were attached or at least very close at the time of the migrations. It would seem almost a miracle that any "boats" could have travelled that far over the ocean. I mean, we did not find anything else than boats and bones. No tools, nothing.
Not so much of a miracle, Bram, when you consider that the Hawaiian archipelago was settled by Polynesians paddling dugout canoes, a journey of thousands of miles on the open ocean. Let me add my endorsement of Jared Diamond's book. It's a teriffic read. Also, the date of the Bering Strait crossing is getting some reconsideration is certain quarters. I've read opinions that the first cross-strait migration via the then-existing land bridge could have been some 25,000 years ago.
Yeah, but Hawaii was settled much more recently than the americas.
Oh, that's true, Etruscia. I'm just saying that there'd be nothing surprising about those people crossing vast expanses of water and arriving at So. America. The Polynesians, had they missed the Hawaiian islands, would have made their next landfall in Alaska, assuming they'd hold their course.
Actually the theory as espoused by Thor Heyerdahl was that Polynesians followed a coastal route. They travelled to the northern coast of the present USA sailed down to Central/South America and THEN crossed the Pacific on a East to West direction. His evidence is plants and cultural artifacts that are Sth American in origin that are found on Easter Island (Rapa Nui).
I read all this and it seems the only people left who seem to have not gone to America are Africans. Do we have any indication, anywhere, of African descent in the American natives?
Now, I become curious, since Australia is a continent apart also, does anybody know if the native Australians come from the "main continent", being the Europe-Asia bloc?
And I am trying to get hold of the Jared Diamond's book. :wink:
Bram -- Guns, Germs and Steel was published by W.W. Norton Co. (1999) and is available in paperback. Amazon.com probably has it.
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