German politicians reacted with shock on Friday after opposition leader Friedrich Merz opened the door to cooperation with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on migration reform after an Afghan man was held in connection with a deadly knife attack. German mainstream parties have previously gone to great lengths to avoid passing legislation while relying on votes from the far-right party, a stance known as the "firewall." However, Merz said in Berlin that his conservative parliamentary g
  • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    12·
    1 day ago

    It might be misleading to say they were the first out of Africa. I think there was 100,000 years or so between homo sapiens leaving Africa and arriving in Australia.

    Also I think they might have been able to walk due to lower sea levels at the time.

    Finally it’s pretty likely that homo sapiens (in this case aboriginals) hunted mega fauna to extinction.

    • moonEnglish
      4·
      1 day ago

      It might be misleading to say they were the first out of Africa

      I didn’t say they immediately arrived in Australia, a place they couldn’t possibly know existed. But it’s not disputable that Aboriginals were in the first wave of humanity to leave Africa.

      They might have been able to walk due to lower sea levels at the time.

      Yes, the sea levels were lower and they may have walked for some of their journey. But they did have to sail across the open ocean and did have to construct vessels that would allow them to do that. Let’s not denigrate the technological achievements of these people by saying they just walked it.

      Homo sapiens (in this case aboriginals) hunted mega fauna to extinction

      What’s really misleading is to just say they hunted the megafauna to extinction when they lived with them for 17,000 years. If you also compare that to the few hundred years it took for the American bison to almost be eradicated after Europeans arrived in North America, you’ll see that these people were still great stewards of the land. Even if, like all Homo Sapiens, they spell disaster for other species around them.

      • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        2·
        17 hours ago

        Oh man.

        First time round you said “The aboriginal people were the first of Homo Sapiens to leave Africa.” I merely responded that might be misleading.

        it’s not disputable that Aboriginals were in the first wave of humanity to leave Africa.

        No one is disputing that Aboriginals, along with every other race, descended from the first wave of humanity to leave Africa. That’s what the article you linked from the smithsonian says. Well done.

        You’re conflating being the first to become Isolated (in Australia and New Guinea) with being the first to leave Africa.

        But they did have to sail across the open ocean and did have to construct vessels that would allow them to do that.

        Aboriginals migrated to Australia via land bridges and short sea crossings over the course of many thousands of years. If you want to call a hunter in a dug out canoe a technological achievement then you’re welcome to.

        they lived with them for 17,000 years.

        This claim is derived from the existence of a single fossil. As you’re no doubt aware, this is a subject of hot debate. Wikipedia says:

        the main mechanism for extinction was human burning of a landscape that was then much less fire-adapted; oxygen and carbon isotopes of teeth indicate sudden, drastic, non-climate-related changes in vegetation and in the diet of surviving marsupial species. However, early Aboriginal peoples appear to have rapidly eliminated the megafauna of Tasmania about 41,000 years ago (following formation of a land bridge to Australia about 43,000 years ago as Ice Age sea levels declined) without using fire to modify the environment there, implying that at least in this case hunting was the most important factor. It has also been suggested that the vegetational changes that occurred on the mainland were a consequence, rather than a cause, of the elimination of the megafauna.