Re:Humans May Have Reached North America by More Than One Route
by jcranmer on Friday August 10, 2018 @10:36AM
(#17733587)
Not quite. There are some oceanic trench faults in between Indonesian islands, so there was no full land connection.
At the last glacial maximum (and sea-level minimum), the big islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo would have been portions of a massive Southeast Asia peninsula. In addition, New Guinea would have been attached to Australia. The other Indonesian islands, such as Sulawesi and Timor, would still have been islands. The gaps between the islands would be somewhat smaller, perhaps about 25mi (even between Timor and Australia), which is close enough that you can sail between them without ever losing sight of land.
At the last glacial maximum (and sea-level minimum), the big islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo would have been portions of a massive Southeast Asia peninsula. In addition, New Guinea would have been attached to Australia. The other Indonesian islands, such as Sulawesi and Timor, would still have been islands. The gaps between the islands would be somewhat smaller, perhaps about 25mi (even between Timor and Australia), which is close enough that you can sail between them without ever losing sight of land.