Re: An alternative to ST and AAT

Magnus Sterky (magnus.sterky@mailbox.hogia.net)
Fri, 18 Oct 1996 16:40:52 +0200

Holly Reeser wrote:

>What East African sites are coastal? Off the top of my head I cannot
>think of any coastal Australopithecine or early Homo coastal sites.
>And how will you test this?

The ocean level has varied by some +-10 meters several times during he
last couple of hundred thousands years back. The latest low was some
15000 years ago, when the North Sea was mainly dry between Brittain and
Denmark. Assuming that the Hs living before that really were at the
coastline, only findings from levels protected from this variation would
be left. And most likely it is all washed away. So, findings from 'dry'
sites are the only ones to use, but is that the whole truth?

There may be places on earth where a big and steady rise of shoreline
may have protected the potential shore sites. On the other hand, the sea
level changes has been faily rapid from time to time, and this would not
be the case for land rise, unless due to volcanic action coinciding with
ice-melting periods. Again, this would have to have happened repeatedly
to protect the shoreline from washing, and is not very likely to find.

-- 
Magnus Sterky
magnus.sterky@mailbox.hogia.net