Re: CROSSING THE BERING STRAIT? How ridiculous!
Bob Casanova (casanova@crosslink.net)
Fri, 29 Nov 1996 22:21:30 GMT
On 29 Nov 1996 11:43:12 GMT, in sci.anthropology.paleo,
edconrad@prolog.net (Ed Conrad) wrote:
>
>Whoever came up with the theory that man arrived in
>North America by crossing the Bering Strait is certainly a prime
>candidate for science's Dunce of the Century Award.
>
>Let's be realistic and use a little common sense!
>
>What tribal leaders, in their right mind -- from wherever they were --
>would search for ``greener pastures" by heading so far north?
Actually, they probably went east, since they were already present in
what is now northern Siberia.
>
>True, they may not have realized they were heading north (assuming
>there were no maps or compasses), but they'd soon realize it was
>getting colder and more hostile the further they traveled.
Actually, it probably got slightly warmer as they neared the sea; it
tends to do that, y'know.
>
>Why would they continue? Why would they start off in the first place?
>How would they know that -- if they ever completed their trip --
>they'd be much better off than they were before?
No more than those in any other migration lasting generations. Oh, did
you think they all suddenly got up one morning and decided to move?
Hint: Can you say "Territorial expansion"? I didn't think so...
>
>What would they have done for food? Once their supply of food was
>exhausted, what did they eat? Where did they find the additional food
>they most certainly would have had to have?
Er, are you under the impression that Arctic dwellers are *farmers*,
or that they don't subsist almost entirely on meat and fish? Now
*that's* a ludicrous idea.
>
>How about the trip itself? If it happened (which it obviously didn't),
>how did they protect themselves from the elements? After all, even if
>they made the trip in record time, they'd have spent many, many
>nine-to-10-month ``winters" in a most hostile environment.
Never heard of the Inuit, huh? How about the Chukchis? Didn't think
so...
>
>This litany of absurdities could go on and on.
I'm sure it will.
>
>The plain and simple fact is that it never happened.
This from someone who was there, of course.
>
>Let the scientists who cling to this ridiculous idea give it a try to
>prove their point that it IS possible. But let them make the trip
>without themal clothing, battery-powered heaters, a stockpile of food,
>directional finders, etc., etc., etc.
See below...
>
>May then -- ONLY then -- they would realize how prepostrous
>the theory is.
>
>As I've said, all it takes is a bit of common sense to realize that
>the earliest man to inhabit of North America certainly didn't make
>the trip by cossing the Bering Strait.
No, they probably didn't; they crossed the land bridge.
>
>Naturally, such a ridiculous theory was originally presented because
>of an inability by the scientific community to explain man's presence
>on the North American continent.
>
>It was just one of many flights of fantasy by dreams and hallucinators
>who think, while you can fool some of the people all of the time and
>all of the people some of the time, you can't fool all of the people
>all of the time.
Well, it's not hard to fool someone (or for him to fool himself) who
thinks humans either can't or won't live in the high Arctic, even
though they do so today, and did before there were such things as
heaters or modern thermal clothing. They also seem to remarkably
competent at finding their way without GPS.
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(Note followups, if any)
Bob C.
"No one's life, liberty or property is safe while
the legislature is in session." - Mark Twain
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