I have noticed this to be a trend among many tribal cultures of the world. Do historians have any consensus on how the procedure originated? I know that it is practiced by many Australian Aboriginal tribes who, to my knowledge, had little to no contact with the world at large prior to european settlement. Would this suggest that the procedure was conceived prior to the australian land bridge flooding over, or that the procedure was invented without outside influence? If the latter option is true, why was the procedure so popular and how/why did people begin practicing it? Edit: to clarify, my main questions are: 1. Did the practice stem from one original culture, or was it developed independently by many? 2. Why was it so popular for 'coming of age' ceremonies? 3. How was the procedure (probably) first discovered?
There wasn't an Australian land bridge, at least not what most people think of. This is the only thing I have any information on. If there were we would see evidence of fossils between Australia and Asia. There was however a land bridge between Australia and New Guinea and Tasmania.
I'm not exactly on topic but I felt it was important to point this out. Ah, I suppose you could say the land bridge sinking wouldn't have affected it.