"Regional Continuity" is a polite or more acceptable
way of expressing "Multi Regionalism."

This, btw, is the idea that distinct populations arose
in our past -- Neanderthals in Europe, as an example
-- and that so called "Modern" humans are an
amalgam; a mixing or even a "Hybrid" comprised of
ancestors from these groups.

I absolutely positively believe this is true. And, it fits
perfectly with Aquatic Ape.

It fits.

COASTAL DISPERSAL!

Early Homo spread everywhere via coastal dispersal.
Which means, Homo spread everywhere because they
were littoral... waterside... Aquatic Ape.

They were exploiting the water. They were exploiting the
ocean front. They were consuming resources and then
moving on.

They weren't migratory birds. They didn't hear a rumor
about a fountain of youth and were searching for it and
they certainly hadn't bought distant Time Shares they
were trying to reach. No, they were simply surviving.

They ate. When the shallows were picked dry they moved
on to a fresh spot...

BECAUSE OF THIS their brains grew as large as they were
genetically capable of. All that protein, all those brain
building Omega-3s in their diet.. yum.

But, periodically, populations would have moved inland.
Once the Glacial/Interglacial cycle began this would have
been rather dramatic. Glacial periods would have resulted
in significant drops in sea level, exposing great treks of
land, enabling our ancestors to not only walk everywhere
from Oceana to Africa and everywhere in between. But
then the next Interglacial period would begin, all that land,
that coastline would be swallowed up by the sea.

Humans, and I include all species of Homo in this, need to
eat pretty much every day. Otherwise they get cranky. So
if rising sea level was drowning their homes and food
sources, some of them -- AT THE VERY LEAST some of
them -- would be driven inland in search of new food sources.

Follow rivers/streams? Yes. But the funny thing about hunger
is, it strikes you even if there are no handy streams to
follow.

So some populations, at the very least, were driven inland,
forced to adapt to these new local inland conditions and
were effectively isolated for thousands of years -- 10,000
years typically -- until the next Glacial period began, sea
levels dropped and everything was connected again.

So groups were isolated, forced to adapt to a new environment
(conditions) and that threw evolution into overdrive. AND
THEN a new Glacial period began, groups were connected
again and all those new adaptations could be shared...

AND THEN it started all over again: The process was repeated.

We know this is true. There's proven "Regional Continuity"
in places like Australia, where we find a continuation in
culture and even (in some cases) physically, but there is a
clear influx of DNA to the point of swamping what the
original populations carried.

So, Multi Regionalism or Regional Continuity is not in
competition with Aquatic Ape, it's explained by Aquatic Ape.

Aquatic Ape explains how all these different populations
were founded AND how they remained linked to others.

It was only major events, like that "Bolide" thingie about
800,000 years ago, or Toba about 70,000 years ago that
tipped things to the favor of one specific population: The
African.

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https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/679904370902679552