Skip to main content

Two Possible Routes for First Humans to Reach Australia

When humans first arrived in Australia, sea level was much lower than it is now. People could have taken the Northern route through Sulawesi, island hopping across the sea, then reaching Papua New Guinea which was joined to Australia. It is the most logical path because land could always be seen in the distance in times of good weather. The southern route is much more difficult in terms of resources and energy. It involves travel across large islands of the Indonesian archipelago from Sumatra to Timor then a considerably long sea journey to the northern part of Australia.

Aboriginal hafted stone tool

Early arrivals obviously did not plan their journey, so using the easiest and most effective route was not an issue. They just moved east to new pastures as resources were depleted with new people moving into inhabited regions. It is possible that Australia was reached by travel along both routes. Artifacts in the rock shelter at Madjedbebe in Australia have been dated at 65,000 years before the present. Not much archaeological evidence has been found for the presence of humans on either route that far back.

There is no explanation for sites in Southeast Asia dating at only 45,000 years ago. Clearly, ancestors of Australian Aboriginals must have occupied places on the routes 65,000 years ago. Furthermore, Aboriginals look quite different from Southeast Asians and Papua New Guineans.
◆  ANTHROPOLOGY  

Popular posts from this blog

Albert Einstein's Genius Was Due to His Unusual Brain

Albert Einstein wasn't only a genius her was a very odd human being. His brain shows peculiar differences from the norm; it had many more folds than the average person. This gave the brain a greater surface area. It is like using a larger computer to do calculations. Upon his father's death in 1955, Thomas Einstein gave the pathologist permission to preserve the brain of Albert Einstein. It was photographed then dissected into 2,000 ultra-thin slices. The slices and slides of them were later distributed to researchers. The brain had more neurons and glia cells, well outside of the normal range; pariental lobes were unusual in the pattern of ridges and grooves. Einstein only had a brain of average size. The area controlling the tongue and face was larger, as was the region that involves attention and planning. Overall, Einstein's brain was complex. Many people think in words. He said his thinking was like a physical activity. If selection based on "healthy...

Natural History Museum Human Evolution Gallery

 The Human Evolution gallery at Natural History explores the origins of Homo sapiens by tracing our lineage back to when it separated from that of our closest living relatives, the bonobos and chimpanzees. Around 200,000 years ago, Africa was where modern humans developed. They have smaller faces and brow ridges, a chin that is more prominent than that of other ancient humans, and a brain case that is higher and more rounded. Modern human fossils from Israel (around 100,000 years old), Africa (around 195,000 years old), and Australia (around 12,000 years old) are among the casts on display. These fossils demonstrate that typical characteristics of modern humans evolved over time rather than emerging fully formed from Africa. They also suggest that at least two waves of people leaving Africa may have occurred, one about 100,000 years ago and the other about 60,000 years ago. We are all descendants of those who left during that second migration wave outside of Africa. Source: Natural...
  Home-made saucer that flies down the road.