polymathy

humans get to Australia ca 40,000 years ago
during an ice age
more dry land
still some open water they had to cross

Caspian sea over twice its present size
Lake Chad great inland sea (Chad means "large body of water", gave its name to the country) like Lake Caspian
Arctic Ocean invaded Northern Siberia, where land had been depressed by ice load
Lake Bonneville = Great Salt Lake (plus a few others in Utah), huge, modern Great Basin

reduced evaporation because of lower temperatures and increased cloudiness
also because rainfall belts shifted closer to the equator

end of the ice age may have given rise to flood myths
5000-3000 BCE, warmer than now

sea level rose fastest between 8000 and 5000, mostly over by 2000 BCE
recession of the coasts is not gradual but comes in storms + increased tidal surge caused by storm

rock drawings & paintings of fauna in the Sahara 5000-6000 BCE
elephants & giraffes rare in Egypt by 2900 BCE
no elephants, giraffes, & rhinoceroses by 2600 BCE

elephants in Algeria in Hannibal's time a remnant separated from the main stock in central Africa by the Sahara
no elephants by 3rd century CE