Sundaland in the Last Glacial Period

Sundaland is a bio-geographical region of Southeastern Asia which encompasses the Sunda shelf, the part of the Asian continental shelf that was exposed during the last Ice Age. The last glacial period, popularly known as the Ice Age, was the most recent glacial period within the current Ice Age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 12,000 years ago. It included the Malay Peninsula on the Asian mainland, as well as the large islands of Kalimantan, Java, and Sumatera and their surrounding islands. The eastern boundary of Sundaland is the Wallace Line, identified by Alfred Russel Wallace as the eastern boundary of the range of Asia’s land mammal fauna, and thus the boundary of the Indomalaya and Australasia ecozones. The islands east of the Wallace line are known as Wallacea, and are considered part of Australasia. It is worth noting that it is now generally accepted that South East Asia was probably the entry point of modern humans from Africa.

The name “Sundaland” was first proposed by van Bemmelen in 1949, followed by Katili (1975), Hamilton (1979) and Hutchison (1989), to describe the continental core of Southeast Asia forming the southern part of the Eurasian plate. Sundaland is bordered to the west, south and east by tectonically active region characterized by intense seismicity and volcanic activity. The tectonically active zone is effectively a mountain belt in the process of formation, and contain many of the features typically thought to be associated with accretionary orogens: there is active subduction, transfer of material at plate boundaries, examples of collision with buoyant feature on oceanic plates, arcs and continents, and abundant magmatism.

The present orogenic belt is situated at the junction of three major plates: the Eurasian, Indian, Australian and Pacific-Philippine Sea plates. It surrounds Sundaland and stretches from Sumatera to The Philippines via eastern Indonesia. It changes character and width from west to east and is composed of different segments or sutures with different character.

Some authors have specifically claimed a clear link between Sundaland and Plato’s Atlantis. The Sunda Sub-Oceanic Plain is large enough to match Plato’s description of Atlantis. Its topography, climate, flora and fauna together with aspects of local mythologies, all permit a convincing case to be made to support this idea.

CW Leadbeater (1854-1934) who was a prominent theosophist was perhaps the first to suggest a link between Atlantis and Indonesia in his book, The Occult History of Java. Other investigators have written on the prehistory of the region of whom the best known is probably Stephen Oppenheimer who firmly locates the Garden of Eden in this region, although he makes little reference to Atlantis. More recently, Robert Schoch, in collaboration with Robert Aquinas McNally, wrote a book in which they suggest that pyramid building may have had its origins in a civilisation that flourished on parts of Sundaland that are now submerged.

The first book to specifically identify Sundaland with Atlantis was written by Zia Abbas. However, prior to its publication the Internet offered at least two sites that discussed in detail the case for Atlantis in Southeast Asia. William Lauritzen and the late Professor Arysio Nunes dos Santos developed extensive websites. Lauritzen has also written an e-book that is available from his site, while Santos developed his views on an Asian Atlantis in another recent book, "Atlantis: The lost continent finally found". Dr Sunil Prasannan has an interesting essay on Graham Hancock’s website. A more esoteric site also offers support for the Sundaland theory.

April 2015 saw further support for an Indonesian Atlantis with the publication of a book, "Atlantis: The lost city is in Java Sea" by a hydrologist, Dhani Irwanto, who endeavors to identify features of the lost city with details in Plato’s account with a site in the Java Sea off the coast of the island of Kalimantan.

[DonkeykongSw]

Once, the Chaophraya river was a very large and long river, almost comparable to Mekhong and Salaween rivers. Many rivers from Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia Vietnam and probably Singapore drained into it. But when the sea level rose, its length reduced from 2000-ish km to 376km.

[hunterhadaway]

can you please tell me who did the music to this nice video you've produced? Thanks!

[wisahyawiratma]

Pak Dani Irwanto, yang hilang hanya sebagian saja yaitu ibu kota dan polau central tidak keseluruhan benua ya ? Sekeear informasi saja Saya menemukan gunung jecil atau populer disebut pasir ( sunda ) disana ada batuan vertical besar persegi tersusun rapi rapat di sumedang jabar betulan patung kuda oasanggrahan sebelah kiri arah cirebon bandung, lebih besar dari batuan gunung padang cianjur jabar, apakah batuan tersebut juga merupakan bukti peradaban Atlantis yang hilang ? Terimakasih pak, kita temenan di fb .

[otiebrown]

Good:
10, 000 years
It shows 40 miles of sheltered water between Borneo and Sulawesi.
You could cross that in a sailing canoe, in about 14 hours.
That is how you get to Australia.
55, 000 years ago.
Land visible for all passages.

[noodle]

Why you ice melt. You bad sea ocean separate my proto ancestor in archipelago now.

[michaelbullington]

I dream of a day when Western historians will accept, seek the evidence, and rewrite the mainstream ideas. This is the true cradle of civilization.