Figure 1.--The final destination of the first people to migrate out of Africa in pre-history was Australia. And the Aborigees are the movern ancestors of these people. This photo shows a boy of the Arrernte aboriginal tribe playing with a shield and a boomerang. The boy doesn't wear clothing at all. We suspect that during the migration that brought people to Ausytalia that some clothing was needed. The photo was taken in Alberga River during the early-1920s. Source: National Museum of Australia.

DNA researchers believe that a remarakably small number of individuals were involved in the first wave of migration out of Africa. Some authors believe that the first homonoids that moved out of Africa were related to the modern San people in southern Africa. There seems to have been an initial migrration that followed the coast of Asia and finally reached Indonesia and Australia. Note that the complete route of the migration were tropical or semi-tropical, meaning that they did not face any really cold weather, although they would have faced weather cold enough to have required some clothing. Because it did not reach into northern lattitudes, the people who conducted this first migration never developed light complexions. This migration was a coastal one. This may have been explained by both climate and resource availability. Advanced technologies were not required, Basically only beach combing skills were necessary, although the final stage to Australia involved a sea crossing, perhaps of about 150 miles. As ocean levels were lowerr, the ocean gaps were more narrow than the case today and some modern islands like Sri Lanka were times connected to the Asian mainland. This migration seem to have occurred about 50,000 years ago. Virtually no physical evidence exists of this first wave coastal migration in terms of tools and other remains. The evidence is purely genetic. And genetic evidence has been found in southern India. The best examples include Sri Lanka and the Andaman Islands, presumably because of subsequent insular isolation. Both of which were once connected to the Indian/Burmese mainland. The Australian aborigenes are the modern descendants of these peoples. This migration constitutes about 10 percent of the modern world population. [Wells]

Sources

Wells, Spencer. Journey of Man: A Genetic Odessy.

Created: 2:29 AM 3/29/2011
Last updated: 7:37 AM 9/1/2015