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I'm from Malta. It's dead center in the Mediterranean sea, just 60 miles off the coast of Sicily, and always has been a melting point of cultures from around the Mediterranean as a result. This is literally the first time in my life I've heard it described as remote.

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And during ice ages, even closer to continental settlements. I think I remember (speculation?)that there might have even been a land bridge to Sicily?

Correct.

60 miles off the coast during premodern times seems pretty remote to me. How long would that be on makeshift raft an oar? A days journey or longer with smooth seas?

The early European hunter-gatherers uses something like dugout canoes, and examples dating back 7k years have been found in Italy. Experienced paddlers with good wind and current conditions could cover 60 miles in about a day. The 90 miles form Sicily to Tunisia is also possible to cover in such a canoe, and DNA form skeletal remains does indeed show that people made the journey.

Roughly 40-60k years ago a similar length journey was likely made from Timor to Australia, fwiw.

Yeah simple canoes are probably quite easy to figure out.

Hard to be successful though given the isolation in Australia after. Only has to work once I guess.

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