Nag, did you see how quickly their "concern" for time depth fell by the wayside...
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Some more dashing observations..
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->eurologist said...
<i>
There are plenty of reasons: (1) genetic, (2) archaeological and (3) some extremely strong guys known as Neanderthals.
</i>
..
Almost forgot about those strong guys. And let's not forget the climate.
A direct entry into the Levant and/or Iraq/Iran demands that the first AMHs
- crossed many hundreds of miles of unknown desert
- to enter an arid region that had months of below-freezing temperatures (for which they were not prepared)
- and then to live in hiding (both from the present Neanderthals and from archaeology) for 20,000 years, in a region that could support no more than a few thousand people
<b>- but yet managed to develop almost all known Westeurasian haplogroups
- in a gene pool that was at least two orders of magnitude smaller than the Indian/Pakistani/Afghan one ...</b>
While, conversely, climate, archaeology, and DNA point to the development of two subgroups within the latter region above - a southern one with familiar tropical conditions, and a northern one in which people had 20,000+ years time to develop the tool set (sewn clothing, tents, devices for carrying water, long-term preparation and storage of food such as drying/smoking) to survive, become successful, and spread when they were ready and briefly the climate became wetter to expand the grass lands to their west.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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Some more dashing observations..
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->eurologist said...
<i>
There are plenty of reasons: (1) genetic, (2) archaeological and (3) some extremely strong guys known as Neanderthals.
</i>
..
Almost forgot about those strong guys. And let's not forget the climate.
A direct entry into the Levant and/or Iraq/Iran demands that the first AMHs
- crossed many hundreds of miles of unknown desert
- to enter an arid region that had months of below-freezing temperatures (for which they were not prepared)
- and then to live in hiding (both from the present Neanderthals and from archaeology) for 20,000 years, in a region that could support no more than a few thousand people
<b>- but yet managed to develop almost all known Westeurasian haplogroups
- in a gene pool that was at least two orders of magnitude smaller than the Indian/Pakistani/Afghan one ...</b>
While, conversely, climate, archaeology, and DNA point to the development of two subgroups within the latter region above - a southern one with familiar tropical conditions, and a northern one in which people had 20,000+ years time to develop the tool set (sewn clothing, tents, devices for carrying water, long-term preparation and storage of food such as drying/smoking) to survive, become successful, and spread when they were ready and briefly the climate became wetter to expand the grass lands to their west.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->