Where River Meets Sea: A Parsimonious Model for Homo sapiens Colonization of the Indian Ocean Rim and Sahul

Francis Bulbeck

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    Abstract

    Recent genetic research suggests an expansion along the tropical coastline of the Indian Ocean, between 75,000 and 60,000 years ago, of the population which included the ancestors of all of the non-African human mitochondrial DNA lineages known today. In view of the arid sections along this coastal stretch, irregularly punctuated by resource-rich estuaries, and the crossings over open sea during the last leg to Australia/New Guinea, this expansion would necessarily have involved the features of watercraft, portage of potable water, and adaptation to estuaries. These features could well have been the cultural basis for the rapid tropical dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa to Australia/New Guinea.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)315-321
    JournalCurrent Anthropology
    Volume48
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2007

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