Soup on Wednesday - Food for Thought: Nomadic Humans

National Geographic magazine has an article this month (Dec 2013: To Walk the World) regarding a fellow who is starting out on an incredible journey. He is walking from the Rift Valley (the birth place of modern humans), and tracing the human migration out of Africa through Asia, across the Bearing Sea (in this case via boat), then on down the Americas to Terra del Fuego. They anticipate the journey will take about seven years, as this map shows.

What I find interesting about the journey, is the way it points to how long we humans have been migrating around on this marvelous planet. In fact, one way to read Genesis is watching how a nomadic people (moving herds) slowly settles into towns and communities, mirroring what's happening through out the region.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/12/out-of-eden/longest-walk-map What makes these early humans human? Is it the way they cared for each other? Is it the way they left art in caves? What about working together to build boats? (In my opinion it's all three and more).
"Boats?" you ask. Yes, boats. In May and June of 2006, Plymouth University had a lecture series: "Challenging the Margins of Time" the debate being “When, during the 1.5 million years of Homo Erectus’ existence and the following 100,000 years plus, of Homo Sapiens existence, did the abstract thinking abilities of modern man emerge?” (see Wharram's blog). James Wharram was asked to speak upon the issue. He titled his talk Sailing from the Unconsciousness. Wharram argues that a group of people over looking a body of water can see land across the way. However, it would be impossible to transverse this body of water by merely floating on a "raft" depending upon tides, currents and/or wind to reach the other side. The boat would need to be controllable. To build such a craft would cooperation and a rational and creative thought process (i.e. abstract thinking). Those people became the Aboriginals of Australia, who arrived approximately 50,000 years ago (as established with carbon 14 dating). This occurred prior to the cave paintings which date approximately 35,000 years ago.

Next time your voyaging in your boat, remember you're participating in something ancient and early in human history. Perhaps one of the reasons it feels so good, is it is quite natural. You are participating in an innately human activity.

Blessed be,
Joel