Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago
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The time of arrival of people in Australia is an unresolved question. It is relevant to debates about when modern humans first dispersed out of Africa and when their descendants incorporated genetic material from Neanderthals, Denisovans and possibly other hominins. Humans have also been implicated in the extinction of Australia's megafauna. Here we report the results of new excavations conducted at Madjedbebe, a rock shelter in northern Australia. Artefacts in primary depositional context are concentrated in three dense bands, with the stratigraphic integrity of the deposit demonstrated by artefact refits and by optical dating and other analyses of the sediments. Human occupation began around 65,000 years ago, with a distinctive stone tool assemblage including grinding stones, ground ochres, reflective additives and ground-edge hatchet heads. This evidence sets a new minimum age for the arrival of humans in Australia, the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, and the subsequent interactions of modern humans with Neanderthals and Denisovans.
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At least two endemic 'super-archaic' hominin species, H. floresiensis and H. luzonensis, were present in Island Southeast Asia around the time anatomically modern humans arrived more than 50,000 years ago.
“The hominin fossil record of Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) indicates that at least two endemic 'super-archaic' species Homo luzonensis and H. floresiensis - were present around the time anatomically modern humans (AMH) arrived in the region >50,000 years ago.”
From Widespread Denisovan ancestry in Island Southeast Asia but no evidence of substantial super-archaic hominin admixture (2021) · cites this paper as [6]
The passage labelled References (page unavailable) says the chronology extends the overlap of modern humans and H. floresiensis in eastern Indonesia to at least 15,000 years. The Abstract and Discussion and implications date human occupation of northern Australia to about 65,000 years ago. Our copy does not mention H. luzonensis or establish that two endemic ‘super-archaic’ species were present when modern humans arrived in Island Southeast Asia. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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“For instance, from a global perspective, modern humans reached Europe at least 43 kya, and Asia and Australia at least 65 kya (Benazzi et al., 2011; Bae et al., 2017; Clarkson et al., 2017), with the earliest forays out of Africa dated to around 200 kya (Hershkovitz et al.”
On the origin of modern humans: Asian perspectives
Bae, C. J., Douka, K., & Petraglia, M. D. (2017) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aai9067 · Cited by 471 · see citing works
Language continuity despite population replacement in Remote Oceania
Posth, C., Nägele, K., Colleran, H., Valentin, F., Bedford, S., Kami, K. W., Shing, R., Buckley, H., Kinaston, R., Walworth, M., et al. (2018) · Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0498-2 · Cited by 233 · see citing works
When did <i>Homo sapiens</i> first reach Southeast Asia and Sahul?
O’Connell, J. F., Allen, J., Williams, M. A. J., Williams, A. N., Turney, C. S. M., Spooner, N. A., Kamminga, J., Brown, G., & Cooper, A. (2018) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1808385115 · Cited by 236 · see citing works
Ancient Genomics of Modern Humans: The First Decade
Skoglund, P., & Mathieson, I. (2018) · Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics · doi:10.1146/annurev-genom-083117-021749 · Cited by 246 · see citing works
Bird, M. I., Beaman, R. J., Condie, S. A., Cooper, A., Ulm, S., & Veth, P. (2018) · Quaternary Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.04.027 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Early human settlement of Sahul was not an accident
Bird, M. I., Condie, S. A., O’Connor, S., O’Grady, D., Reepmeyer, C., Ulm, S., Zega, M., Saltré, F., & Bradshaw, C. J. A. (2019) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-42946-9 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Teixeira, J. C., Jacobs, G. S., Stringer, C., Tuke, J., Hudjashov, G., Purnomo, G. A., Sudoyo, H., Cox, M. P., Tobler, R., Turney, C. S. M., et al. (2021) · Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-021-01408-0 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Bowman, D. M. J. S., Williamson, G. J., Johnston, F. H., Bowman, C. J. W., Murphy, B. P., Roos, C. I., Trauernicht, C., Rostron, J., & Prior, L. D. (2022) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-022-12946-3 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
‘Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago’ (Clarkson et al. 2017): a discussion
Bowdler, S. (2017) · Australian Archaeology · doi:10.1080/03122417.2017.1408198 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Clarkson, C., Jacobs, Z., Marwick, B., Fullagar, R., Wallis, L., Smith, M., Roberts, R. G., Hayes, E., Lowe, K., Carah, X., Florin, S. A., McNeil, J., Cox, D., Arnold, L. J., Hua, Q., Huntley, J., Brand, H. E. A., Manne, T., Fairbairn, A., Shulmeister, J., Lyle, L., Salinas, M., Page, M., Connell, K., Park, G., Norman, K., Murphy, T., & Pardoe, C.
- Affiliations
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Australian Research Council (AU)
- University of Washington (US)
- University of Wollongong (AU)
- The University of Notre Dame Australia (AU)
- National Museum of Australia (AU)
- Harvard University (US)
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (AU)
- Griffith University (AU)
- Australian Synchrotron (AU)
- Australian National University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Clarkson, Chris
- Jacobs, Zenobia
- ORCID
- Clarkson, Chris
- Jacobs, Zenobia
- Marwick, Ben
- Fullagar, Richard
- Wallis, Lynley
- Smith, Mike
- Roberts, Richard G.
- Hayes, Elspeth
- Lowe, Kelsey
- Florin, S. Anna
- Arnold, Lee J.
- Hua, Quan
- Huntley, Jillian
- Brand, Helen E. A.
- Manne, Tiina
- Fairbairn, Andrew
- Shulmeister, James
- Connell, Kate
- Park, Gayoung
- Norman, Kasih
- Pardoe, Colin
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2017-07
- Volume
- 547
- Issue
- 7663
- Pages
- 306-310
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2738625345
- Cited by
- 1,185
- References
- 64
- Citations by year
- 2026: 85 · 2025: 123 · 2024: 160 · 2023: 106 · 2022: 145 · 2021: 136 · 2020: 122 · 2019: 137 · 2018: 134 · 2017: 34
- FWCI
- 471.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Online (University of Wollongong) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Institutional Repository (The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation) (submittedVersion)
- Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
- Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- L'Oreal USA
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
- Australian Government
- Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering
- Australian Synchrotron
- Australian Research Council (DP110102864, FL130100116, FT130100195)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Australian Indigenous Culture and History
- Keywords
- lithic assemblages, grinding stones, optical dating, dispersal out of Africa, Homo floresiensis, rockshelter archaeology, northern Australia
- MeSH terms
- Africa, Animals, Australia, Diet, Fossils, Humans, Geologic Sediments, History, Ancient, Neanderthals, Human Migration
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