Did Humans Live on Pangea?

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SUMMARY

This discussion centers on the migration of early humans and their ability to traverse oceans during the Pangea supercontinent era. Participants clarify that modern humans (Homo sapiens) emerged approximately 160,000 years ago, while Pangea existed around 250 million years ago, well before human evolution. The conversation highlights that early humans migrated from Africa to various continents, including the Americas via a land bridge approximately 13,000 years ago, and that Polynesians demonstrated advanced navigation skills, sailing across vast oceans as early as 20,000 to 25,000 years ago.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of human evolution, specifically the timeline of Homo sapiens and their predecessors.
  • Knowledge of Pangea and its geological timeline.
  • Familiarity with migration theories, including the Bering land bridge and oceanic navigation.
  • Awareness of ancient civilizations such as the Aztecs and Incas and their historical timelines.
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the migration patterns of early humans, focusing on the Out of Africa theory.
  • Explore the navigation techniques used by Polynesians and their impact on oceanic exploration.
  • Investigate the geological and climatic conditions during the last Ice Age that facilitated human migration.
  • Study the archaeological evidence of early civilizations in the Americas, particularly the Aztec and Inca cultures.
USEFUL FOR

Historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, and anyone interested in human migration, ancient civilizations, and the evolution of navigation techniques.

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Did Human Exist During Pangea?

I was wondering how is it possible that man lived in almost all continents of the globe about 5000 - 10000 years back, when continents had there current positions as seen by ancient sailors like Christopher Columbus, The American continents had its own native human beings living in those lands totally unaware of the Europe / Asia...

Considering the oldest human fossils which are no more than 1 million years old (Please correct me), how could such primitive people sail through the vast oceans?

We have the same problem with the fossils of lizards like Cynognathus, which couldn't travel through the oceans but were found in almost all regions of Gondwana which is somehow a positive indicator of Pangea. What about man? How did we sail the oceans in prehistoric era, or did we really sail through the oceans?

Thanks in advance for your contributions & I am totally aware of how crazy the thread title is ;)
 
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The expansions happened around 70-100,000 years ago from Africa into the middle east and Asia = no ocean involved.
The reached the americas only 13,000 years ago when the ice age led to lower sea levels and there was a land bridge (or at least only narrow gaps) between the Aluetian islands.

The only bit of serious sea needed was to polynesia and Australia - primitive doesn't mean you can't sail. With the same canoes you can sail across the Pacific and Atlantic today, there is a plaque on the beach here where some adventurer/idiot sailed from Canada to Hawaii in about 6 weeks in a dug out canoe.
 
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mgb_phys said:
The expansions happened around 70-100,000 years ago from Africa into the middle east and Asia = no ocean involved.
The reached the americas only 13,00 years ago when the ice age led to lower sea levels and there was a land bridge.

True about Europe, Asia & Africa, but when it comes to Americas I believe people lived in those lands well more than just 1,300 years ago as the Aztec & Inca civilizations have shown (who lived in Andes mountain range.) for at least more than 6000 years ago as a civilized group with well established villages!

mgb_phys said:
there is a plaque on the beach here where some adventurer/idiot sailed from Canada to Hawaii in about 6 weeks in a dug out canoe.

I am really surprised ! :) but still that would mean that only a couple of people could reach the Americas which would result in much much younger civilizations (due to lack of population) compared to those of Africa/Asia, but it turns out that all such civilizations were of the same age...
 


mubashirmansoor said:
I was wondering how is it possible that man lived in almost all continents of the globe about 5000 - 10000 years back, when continents had there current positions as seen by ancient sailors like Christopher Columbus, The American continents had its own native human beings living in those lands totally unaware of the Europe / Asia...

Considering the oldest human fossils which are no more than 1 million years old (Please correct me), how could such primitive people sail through the vast oceans?
Actually, the oldest human fossils are no more than about 100,000 years old, far less that "1 million years".

We have the same problem with the fossils of lizards like Cynognathus, which couldn't travel through the oceans but were found in almost all regions of Gondwana which is somehow a positive indicator of Pangea. What about man? How did we sail the oceans in prehistoric era, or did we really sail through the oceans?

Thanks in advance for your contributions & I am totally aware of how crazy the thread title is ;)
The first humans moved out of Africa, through the middle east, and India, to IndoChina, Indonesia and then Australia well before the easing of the ice ages allowed them to move north to Europe and northern Asia. There is some evidence that people moved along the Bering sea ice bridge to Alaska some 30,000 years ago but then had to wait on the coast of Alaska for the ice to recede enough to create a route to lower North America. (There is a possibility that they were able to use ocean going canoes to bypass the ice sheet before that.)

Yes, we really did sail through the Oceans! The people, apparently starting from the China coast and Taiwan, perhaps 20 to 25 thousand years ago, moved south through the Phillipines eventually becoming the Polynesians, arguably the greatest navigators in history. One of the last places they settled was New Zealand, leading to the peculiar result that one of the earliest places settled by humans, Australia, is close to New Zealand, one of the last.
 


mgb_phys said:
The reached the americas only 13,00 years ago when the ice age led to lower sea levels and there was a land bridge (or at least only narrow gaps) between the Aluetian islands.

mubashirmansoor said:
True about Europe, Asia & Africa, but when it comes to Americas I believe people lived in those lands well more than just 1,300 years ago as the Aztec & Inca civilizations have shown (who lived in Andes mountain range.) for at least more than 6000 years ago as a civilized group with well established villages!
He didn't say 1300, he said 13,000!
 


There are unproven theories that stone age humans reached the west coast of Canada earlier than this.
There is some evidence that polynesians reached S America >30,000 years ago but didn't stay/survive.
It's fairly easy to reach Chile from Easter Island - easier than the other way around!

People didn't reach New Zealand until the (european) middle ages.
 
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HallsofIvy said:
He didn't say 1300, he said 13,000!
Typo in the mgb's post now fixed...

[edit] ...and in mine.
 
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Pangea existed about 250 million years ago. That is long before humans started to evolve.

The oldest "modern" human fossils are about 160,000 year old.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0611_030611_earliesthuman.html
 
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russ_watters said:
Typo in the mgb's post now fixed...

Sorry ! , I thought you were talking about the "little ice ages" around 1000 years back...
 
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  • #10
Xnn said:
Pangea existed about 250 million years ago. That is long before humans started to evolve.

The oldest "modern" human fossils are about 160,000 year old.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0611_030611_earliesthuman.html

True, but I though it couldn't be that easy to sail the oceans...

Thanks for the contributions.
 
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  • #11


mubashirmansoor said:
True, but I though it couldn't be that easy to sail the oceans...

Thanks for the contributions.

During an ice age it would be possible to cross the ocean in small hunting boats along the edges of the ice. The Eskimos do it today.
 
  • #12


mubashirmansoor said:
True, but I though it couldn't be that easy to sail the oceans...

Thanks for the contributions.[It depends what you mean by human...Homo Sapiens are only the most recent humans.]
 
  • #13


Homo Erectus, Homo Ergaster, Homo Hablis...all human.
 

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