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Snufflepuffster t1_iz3ytg4 wrote

Reply to comment by sinmantky in Asians were the First People in Europe According to Recent Genetic Studies. by KottjornGoad

do you think someone in Africa 40k years ago stood up and said 'Let's go to China.’

No, that's ridiculous. They just went wherever and the extent/direction of their route was related to migration pressure.

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sinmantky t1_iz44hkl wrote

that's what I thought at first, just follow the animals. But then, the fertile crescent would be there, so animals would be more plentiful there, rather than the hilly Turkish terrain.

One interesting story I heard is that early humans tried to follow the sun, being curious to where that bright shining thing kept going and where it went, they just followed it and kept going East.

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Peter_deT t1_iz474gp wrote

The earliest migrations stuck to the coast (abundant food, better climate), which is why they reached Australia over 50,000 years ago - well before inland Asia was populated. Places like Tibet and central Australia were among the last.

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sinmantky t1_iz4amx6 wrote

Yes, but why through the harsh Anatolian/Caucus hills? Was animal plentiful compared to the coast? Were they chased by some archaic human? Principle of least effort would make humans go thru the easier path.

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NeedlessPedantics t1_iz7kzui wrote

You’re thinking about this in terms of individuals making conscious decisions within the time frame of a single life, rather than successive generations of groups of people changing, moving, splitting, returning, dying off, repopulating entire regions over thousands upon thousands of years.

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