4 ms·

I heard the story [1] that when people where able to cross the bering street due to the lower sea level, they could not proceed from Alaska due to the massive i

by patall 10y ago

I heard the story [1] that when people where able to cross the bering street due to the lower sea level, they could not proceed from Alaska due to the massive ice shield and when the shield was gone, the bering street was closed again, a mechanism described to be similar to a revolving door. [1] Tim Flannery (2001), The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and its Peoples

Arnt 10y ago
Yeah, I've read it too, but it's odd. It's more difficult to move on ice or water than on grass. Moving on grass is convenient. But ice and water aren't impossible, we know that people reached Greenland from the northwest and stayed there, and we know that people reached Australia and even Easter Island. Well-regarded books say strange things sometimes. Have you read Jared Diamond's Catastrophe? Its argument about why the Norwegians who moved to Greenland died presupposes that the technology that led to viking ships had nothing to do with fishing and, and states that Norwegians would rather hunger to death than eat fish.
- InitialLastName 10y ago
  I think you mean Collapse (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose...)? Do you have more rebuttal to that? I'm reading it at the moment, and I'm always looking for issues with JD's usually compelling arguments.
  - Arnt 10y ago
    Yes, Collapse, sorry. No, I don't, really. Except that dried cod was a well-known foodstuff in Norway at the time, that's a recorded fact. Any argument that rests on Norwegians not eating cod is a poorly founded argument, no matter how well phrased. (http://nrksuper.no/super/files/2013/10/t%C3%B8rrfisk2-e1382344196288.jpg http://nrksuper.no/super/files/2013/10/t%C3%B8rrfisk2-e13823... is it. Tastes good, is light and doesn't require refrigeration. Smells though.)

by patall 10y ago

Arnt 10y ago

Yeah, I've read it too, but it's odd. It's more difficult to move on ice or water than on grass. Moving on grass is convenient. But ice and water aren't impossible, we know that people reached Greenland from the northwest and stayed there, and we know that people reached Australia and even Easter Island. Well-regarded books say strange things sometimes. Have you read Jared Diamond's Catastrophe? Its argument about why the Norwegians who moved to Greenland died presupposes that the technology that led to viking ships had nothing to do with fishing and, and states that Norwegians would rather hunger to death than eat fish.

InitialLastName 10y ago
I think you mean Collapse (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose...)? Do you have more rebuttal to that? I'm reading it at the moment, and I'm always looking for issues with JD's usually compelling arguments.
- Arnt 10y ago
  Yes, Collapse, sorry. No, I don't, really. Except that dried cod was a well-known foodstuff in Norway at the time, that's a recorded fact. Any argument that rests on Norwegians not eating cod is a poorly founded argument, no matter how well phrased. (http://nrksuper.no/super/files/2013/10/t%C3%B8rrfisk2-e1382344196288.jpg http://nrksuper.no/super/files/2013/10/t%C3%B8rrfisk2-e13823... is it. Tastes good, is light and doesn't require refrigeration. Smells though.)