Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Australian Aborigines

Has anyone ever thought about these people? I have been "reading" a book that talks about them... what an amazing people. Why aren't they more well known and studied...

So it has been speculated that the native people of this continent arrived there some 60000 years ago, yes that's right sixty thousand years ago. The amazing part about that, as if that is astounding enough, is that they didn't walk there as the land was never attached to anything during human times, and they didn't evolve there as there were no primates there to evolve from... this leaves arrival by sea as the only option. Which means that they navigated the ocean most likely from the southern asain islands...about 60 or so miles away to a place that they could not see nor know was there. Ok, lets assume it was an accident and that they were fishing and got swept out to see and washed up there. Well that means that a whole group of people, large enough to colonize a continent, accidently arrived there. So this sea crossing whether accident or on purpose, noone can really say, is pretty amazing because it happened tens of thousands of years before any other human population had even thought of doing it. Have you ever even heard of this migration really? I wonder why not? So not only was their arrival amazing, but that means that they occupied australia alone for about 99 percent of it's inhabited lifetime. WOW. Not only did they inhabit it, but they mastered the continent, spreading all over it and adapting to every climate there was...to maintain the oldest culture and language known to man... They also seem to have seen the world by a wholy different set of rules. The first explorers documented that they barely paid notice to the arrival of the huge ships that sailed into botany bay, only looked up and then returned to their tasks. The people had no word for yestereday or tomorrow, they had no chiefs or governing councils, they herded no animals, sewed no crops or made any pottery, no sense of property, but they devoted large amounts of efforts to move shells to huge mounds, some very large and old (800 years and half an acre). No one knows why? They were happy none the less. What a different and amazing people. Wish that I knew more. I will post here if I find out anyhting else.... Peak your interest?

Just a quick thought I wanted to share...

Taking pictures of skiing soon I promise, we found the camera charger!

Ben

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