(May 13, 2013 at 10:20 pm)Chuck Wrote: [quote='A_Nony_Mouse' pid='444738' dateline='1368490198']
This is a quick and dirty map I made coloring the water green to a depth about that of the lower sea level during the last ice age. Note the South China sea and such.
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A quick and dirty map of the sea floor around indonesia is liable to overlook the Wallace line, which runs through a narrow 7 mile strait between island of java to the east, and the islands of lesser Sunda to the west. Nesa Tengara lies on the lesser Sunda islands.
The importance of Wallace line is lies exactly on the border between the Asian tectonic plate carrying java to the north and east, and the indo-australian tectonic plate carrying Nesa Tengara to the west. Despite the narrowness of the strait separating these two islands, and the fact their climates are almost exactly the same, the native flora and fauna on either side of Wallace line are fundamentally different. The flora and fauna to the west of Wallace line is similar to the flora and fauna of mainland Asia. The flora and fauna to the east of Wallace line is similar to those of Papua New Gunie and Australia, which are often evolutionarily far removed from the flora and fauna of Asia.
This fact, and the fact the line happen to trace a deep seated geological divide in the crust of the earth, has caused many people to assume the lands on either side of Wallace line has in fact never, ever been directly linked.
I am not claiming it was walking all the way. The last gap to get to Australia was clearly a big stretch of water without considering any other gaps. My point is it does not take much in sea-faring or even rafting technology to spread across the Pacific Islands. One can also consider how the islanders learned to sail across hundreds even thousands of miles of open water. Slowly over centuries as the water appeared and the distances slowly increased and methods slowly improved.
On another subject the route out of Africa was to the south of the Red Sea not the north. And the sea might not have even existed.
