cedh audmanh wrote:1.
Southern Peilaš and Zeluzhia appear to be the most likely locations indeed.
Ok. I guess the next question is, what difference does it make which continent humans evolved on? There will be more diversity in that continent, for one thing. (More genetic diversity anyway; whether cultural/linguistic diversity are affected probably depends on how long ago humans started expanding.)
2.
Siixtaguna and the northwestern edge of the northeastern continent (the homeland of Proto-Isles) are on the same tectonic plate. I'm not sure whether there would have been a land bridge though; there's no land north of c. 70° so I feel that lower ocean levels due to an ice age some 10.000 years ago would be unlikely. We can declare that a land bridge did exist if we want to, but there's always the Ttiruku island arc as an alternative route.
This seems like an important point. If the move between the eastern continent(s) and Peilaš (whichever direction it goes) is recent, I'd expect the peoples on the "new world" side to be quite closely related to one another. Maybe we should make it happen as early as it plausibly can, then...
(There is mention of glacial valleys in the Rathedan article... maybe that needn't imply ice-age scale glaciation though?)
The steps from Zeluzhia to the neighbouring continents to its north and south (or from the north to Zeluzhia) would be rather easy. Both straits are only a few hundred km wide, with lots of islands encouraging a naval culture anyway, and additionally located in a favourable climate zone.
On earth, according to
this interesting site, 180 Km or so was the upper limit of sea crossings until ca. 20 000 years ago. Not sure why that's so, but maybe it's worth keeping in mind here.
The twin continents in the southwest might still be uncolonized in classical times. ... IMO a good scenario for their discovery would be that a culture from the littoral region between Antarctica and South Zeluzhia starts empire-building, conquers most of the temperate areas of Antarctica, and sets out to discover the regions beyond. The tech level required would probably be similar to that of Huyfárah.
Alternatively, I think a Polynesian-like group (from either the region you propose or the SE extension of the NEern continent) could colonize those seas without urban civilization or imperialism. I agree that this might be quite recent; maybe it starts around the same period as the Proto-Isles expansion in the opposite direction (ca -1500).
3.
Agriculture: separately on different continents; the best areas in Peilaš seem to be the mediterranean Western coast, Xšalad, and southern Huyfárah (i.e. the Ngauro civilisation or a slightly earlier culture).
Agreed. I think each of those three areas could develop agriculture more or less independently. My idea (based loosely on eastern Asia) is that pottery and maybe some cultivation could appear in the Xšali-Peninsular zone as early as -10 000, with cereal-based agriculture in the Aiwa-Huyfárah region by around -7000.
It was suggested some time ago that we should establish a different rhythm for technological development than earth had. One thing to think about might be the role of contacts across the Ttiruku island chain, which connects the two northern continents in a way that has no obvious earth parallel...
I'd offer to have a go at that, but have my hands full with various other projects + uni at the moment.
) I'm going to unpack it when I get home from work in an hour or so. Increased onlineness and, hopefully, productivity should ensue... for real this time.
