tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post3741024761050773325..comments2024-01-04T04:11:55.717+02:00Comments on Dienekes’ Anthropology Blog: 42,000-year old fishermen from East TimorDienekeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02082684850093948970noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-13686640916664759162011-11-28T13:40:05.894+02:002011-11-28T13:40:05.894+02:00@terryt & Andrew Oh-Willeke --
Thank you both...@terryt & Andrew Oh-Willeke --<br /><br />Thank you both!<br /><br />Under the impression humans would have run into situations long before East Timor that would have prompted them out to sea. Sight of land is a definite limitation; unless you're hit by a storm or running away with the Chief's daughter:-).<br /><br />This link would seem to put East Timor in the 'one' in a thousand category.<br /><br />http://www.questinteractive.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Map_of_Sunda_and_Sahul.pngPascvakshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08311382875179534062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-68123518125664207232011-11-28T11:25:59.080+02:002011-11-28T11:25:59.080+02:00"why is East Timor so special?"
It is ..."why is East Timor so special?" <br /><br />It is over the Wallace line, so it is one of the few places inhabited by pre-Austronesians that was never connected by land to Eurasia in modern human history. But, unlike Australia and New Guinea, which were sufficiently distant from other land to make the migration there pretty much a one way trip (in part because you can't make those trips without losing sight of land), Timor remained in contact with the rest of Eurasia more or less continously from the time that it was first inhabited (you can travel by boat from Timor to Asia and to lots of other deep water without ever losing sight of land).Andrew Oh-Willekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02537151821869153861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-192746182915107572011-11-28T04:20:12.707+02:002011-11-28T04:20:12.707+02:00"Why would anyone even think that the 'cr..."Why would anyone even think that the 'crucible for fishing' was in East Timor? Why?" <br /><br />I agree that it is doubtful Timor is the ''crucible for fishing' but it is quite likely it is the crucible for fishing from boats. <br /><br />"These people traveled via beach routes" <br /><br />It is extremely doubtful that humans traveled all the way from Africa to Timor along the beaches. Beaches have no doubt been utilised only where the hinterland has been appropriate. <br /><br />"why is East Timor so special?" <br /><br />Becaus people have to use boats to even get there from mainland SE Asia.terrythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17327062321100035888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-77880197230553154392011-11-27T17:13:48.304+02:002011-11-27T17:13:48.304+02:00"There is nothing like this anywhere else in ..."There is nothing like this anywhere else in the world," says Ian McNiven of Monash University in Melbourne, who was not a member of O'Connor's team. "Maybe this is the crucible for fishing."<br /><br /><br />This makes no sense. Why would anyone even think that the 'crucible for fishing' was in East Timor? Why? These people traveled via beach routes, why is East Timor so special?Pascvakshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08311382875179534062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-82906727213624071552011-11-27T10:34:43.518+02:002011-11-27T10:34:43.518+02:00"Those Upper Paleolithic people never cease t..."Those Upper Paleolithic people never cease to amaze". <br /><br />But this is very much a localised affair. In fact you quote the comment: <br /><br />"'There is nothing like this anywhere else in the world,' says Ian McNiven of Monash University in Melbourne, who was not a member of O'Connor's team. 'Maybe this is the crucible for fishing.'" <br /><br />Really no real surprises here. We know people reached Australia some time about 50,000 years ago, and it seems most likely they crossed from Timor using boats. Presumably they would have developed these boats for fishing.terrythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17327062321100035888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-1402139647316347762011-11-25T14:08:33.771+02:002011-11-25T14:08:33.771+02:00The problem of digging a deep hole is analyzing al...The problem of digging a deep hole is analyzing all those grains of sand and pieces of bio-matter wedged between the grains. The only 'visable' piece of the nets would be special rocks used to weight the net. I think Desmond Morris was very right to put so much emphesis on our relationship with the sea back in 1967 (The Naked Ape); water is a hard Task Master, but a great Teacher.Pascvakshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08311382875179534062noreply@blogger.com