An interesting story here about Neandertals sailing the Mediterranean 100,000 years ago. This shouldn't be surprising though as there's good evidence of humans arriving on Crete 300,000 years ago and somebody getting to Flores Island 800,000 years ago. The article speculates about the Neandertal craft being made of wood but I think a better option would have been reeds and there is indications that some stone tools were being used to cut reeds.

I thought the earth was only 6,000 years old?

^That's if you don't count holidays.

And all those February 29ths add up.

That's just amazing to consider Neandertals as seafarers. It doesn't fit the stereotype at all (I guess now we have to say that seafaring is so easy a caveman can do it). These were really intelligent and advanced people. I really wonder what it would be like if they had survived along with modern Humans-- or instead of modern Humans.

RJDiogenes wrote:And all those February 29ths add up.

That's just amazing to consider Neandertals as seafarers. It doesn't fit the stereotype at all (I guess now we have to say that seafaring is so easy a caveman can do it). These were really intelligent and advanced people. I really wonder what it would be like if they had survived along with modern Humans-- or instead of modern Humans.

I've seen theories (and proof?) that Neanderthals had inter-bred with Homo-Sapiens.

^Yeah it turns out that most modern humans have Neandertal genes along with a mysterious group called the Denisovans. It's a small percent of our genome (say between 2 and 4% generally) but after 30,000 years that's quite large. So basically Neandertals are still among us.

Ironically after seeing the post on Neandertal mariners the current issue of Discover turned up in the mail with an article about evidence of deep sea fishing in Australia dating back 42,000 years ago. Looks like humanity have been sea-goers for a very long time.

EDIT: Ahoy! There's yet another article about ancient mariners. This one about Iberians reaching America over 20,000 years ago. I've heard this one before but its interesting that the theory is hanging on despite the ghost of Clovis.

Fascinating and compelling. I approve of the skeptics, because evidence must be overwhelming, but I have no trouble believing this. The lack of skeletal and DNA evidence doesn't bother me. The Vikings, Chinese, Irish et al all journeyed to America and failed to take hold; even in recorded history, numerous European colonies, such as Roanoke, failed to take hold. What's more mysterious, to me, is the lack of skeletal remains of these Solutreans in Europe. I wonder what's up with that.

That is odd

Contrary to the article though there is some genetic evidence in the form of Haplogroup X which appears to occur in populations in the eastern US. Critics have insisted that X came in from Asia but there seems to be very little evidence for this last I heard.

It would be odd to find Asian DNA on the East coast only. Isn't there some genetic evidence of Chinese contact among populations on the West coast of South America?

^I don't know. I do know that it's pretty evident that the Polynesians arrived there at one point.

Are any of you familiar with the theories that ancient Egyptians could have easily crosses the Atlantic in ships built of reeds, hence the reason why the Mayans and Aztecs built pyramids that resemble those "across the pond"?

Thor Heyerdahl did so in a reed ship called the Ra II so it's not impossible. However the pyramids of Egypt and the pyramids of Meso-America do seem to have come about independently. The Egyptians came about pyramids by stacking mastabas and the Maya by building temples around older temples. The pyramids of other cultures were generally glorified burial mounds like the White Pyramid in China.
But it does spark the imagination. Just how long ago could people have crossed the oceans?

Lupine wrote:Thor Heyerdahl did so in a reed ship called the Ra II so it's not impossible. However the pyramids of Egypt and the pyramids of Meso-America do seem to have come about independently. The Egyptians came about pyramids by stacking mastabas and the Maya by building temples around older temples. The pyramids of other cultures were generally glorified burial mounds like the White Pyramid in China.
But it does spark the imagination. Just how long ago could people have crossed the oceans?

Well, Noah did it.





















What?

^^ Well, he had no choice. There was nothing but ocean.

And speaking of prehistory, dinosaurs have sure come a long way. Once pictured as drab reptiles, dinosaurs like Microraptor are getting a make-over.
Of course it's almost hard to believe that thing is a dinosaur.