Coastal Migration is a term sometimes used in modern
anthropology and
genetics for the concept that, from a
single origin in Africa 100-200 thousand years before present (kybp),
humanity first spread eastwards to areas outside Africa along routes that were predominantly located around
coastlines.
[, by Dr. Marta Mirazón Lahr, et al.] Other terms, such as
Rapid Coastal Settlement,
Coastal Migration Theory and
Coastal Migration Model, are also used.
Coastal migration theory in Asia and Oceania
The coastal route is primarily used to describe the initial peopling of the
Arabian peninsula,
India,
Southeast Asia,
New Guinea,
Australia, coastal
China and
Japan,
and is linked with the presence and dispersal of
mtDNA haplogroup M and
haplogroup N, as well as the specific distribution patterns of
Y-DNA haplogroup C and
haplogroup D, in these regions.
The theory proposes that humans, likely similar to the
Negritos or
Proto-Australoids of modern times, arrived in the Arabian peninsula from
Africa, then on the southern coastal califoria of the Indian mainland, followed by spread to the
Andaman Islands and modern-day
Indonesia, and thence branching southwards to Australia and northwards towards Japan.
's
Genographic Project uses the term 'Coastal Clan' to describe the initial human groups of Y-DNA haplogroup C who expanded eastwards out from Africa along the coastal route around 50 kybp.
discusses the theory in relation to
language families.
Coastal migration hypothesis in the New World
Sometimes, the theory is extended to cover onwards migration, via the
Bering Strait (which is hypothesized to have been a
land bridge during the
ice age), into North America, and then onwards to
Central and
South America along the western coast.
Findings such as the report that the sediments in the Port Eliza caves on
Vancouver Island, which indicated the possibility of survivable climate until 16 kybp in the area, have helped bolster the hypothesis recently.
However, despite such research, the postulate is still subject to considerable debate.
See also
