[naijaboiler]

my own theory. Depending on cyclical geography limitations, humans have been forever moving out of Africa sporadically, going way back to Neanderthals and possibly even before. It wasn't just one wave, it was multiple waves from time to time.

The people that ended up in Australia were some of the earliest anatomically modern humans that successfully made the trip out and for some reason or the other were not really able to colonize Europe/Asia and kept venturing south until they ended up in Australia

Other later waves probably made it to the middle east and went back. Some made it a bit into Europe and some of asia. But it wasn't until relatively recent times, that we got waves that finally got a foothold in Europe/Asia and eventually outlasted other homo species that had dominated those areas for a 100,000 years.

I am not an anthropologist. I can't prove anything I wrote. I am just using my own common sense and the evidence that has so far been published.

[defrost]

> and for some reason or the other were not really able to colonize Europe/Asia and kept venturing south until they ended up in Australia

Any people that did settle in Europe to the north during that first pass through further south some 70K years ago very likely were pushed back by the worsening conditions preceding the advance of the Last Glacial Maximum (dry very dusty air, poor vegetation .. and later ice everywhere).

Following the path of best land with least resistance led to following the tropics mostly by land, consistent year round conditions, no winters to store food for, etc.

[withinboredom]

I wonder if this migrate-and-survive is a "great filter" that organisms must do in order to grow. The same thing will likely happen to space colonists, many will go, but only a few will survive.