Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago

Chris Clarkson; Zenobia Jacobs; Ben Marwick; Richard Fullagar; Lynley Wallis; Michael Smith; Richard Roberts; Elspeth Hayes; Kelsey Lowe; Xavier Carah; S. Florin; Jessica McNeil; Delyth Cox; Lee Arnold; Quan Hua; Jillian Huntley; Helen Brand; Tiina Manne; Andrew Fairbairn; James Shulmeister; Lindsey Lyle; Makiah Salinas; Mara Page; Kate Connell; Gayoung Park; Kasih Norman; Tessa Murphy; Colin Pardoe

doi:10.1038/nature22968

Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago

Chris Clarkson, Zenobia Jacobs, Ben Marwick, Richard Fullagar, Lynley Wallis, Michael Smith, Richard Roberts, Elspeth Hayes, Kelsey Lowe, Xavier Carah, S. Florin, Jessica McNeil, Delyth Cox, Lee Arnold, Quan Hua, Jillian Huntley, Helen Brand, Tiina Manne, Andrew Fairbairn, James ShulmeisterLindsey Lyle, Makiah Salinas, Mara Page, Kate Connell, Gayoung Park, Kasih Norman, Tessa Murphy, Colin Pardoe

College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

540 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	306-310
Number of pages	5
Journal	Nature
Volume	547
Issue number	7663
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22968
Publication status	Published - 2017

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Clarkson, C., Jacobs, Z., Marwick, B., Fullagar, R., Wallis, L., Smith, M., Roberts, R., Hayes, E., Lowe, K., Carah, X., Florin, S., McNeil, J., Cox, D., Arnold, L., Hua, Q., Huntley, J., Brand, H., Manne, T., Fairbairn, A., ... Pardoe, C. (2017). Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago. Nature, 547(7663), 306-310. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22968

@article{6f538ee1c2ca48479e27418bbec3ccc8,

title = "Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago",

abstract = "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.",

author = "Chris Clarkson and Zenobia Jacobs and Ben Marwick and Richard Fullagar and Lynley Wallis and Michael Smith and Richard Roberts and Elspeth Hayes and Kelsey Lowe and Xavier Carah and S. Florin and Jessica McNeil and Delyth Cox and Lee Arnold and Quan Hua and Jillian Huntley and Helen Brand and Tiina Manne and Andrew Fairbairn and James Shulmeister and Lindsey Lyle and Makiah Salinas and Mara Page and Kate Connell and Gayoung Park and Kasih Norman and Tessa Murphy and Colin Pardoe",

year = "2017",

doi = "10.1038/nature22968",

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Clarkson, C, Jacobs, Z, Marwick, B, Fullagar, R, Wallis, L, Smith, M, Roberts, R, Hayes, E, Lowe, K, Carah, X, Florin, S, McNeil, J, Cox, D, Arnold, L, Hua, Q, Huntley, J, Brand, H, Manne, T, Fairbairn, A, Shulmeister, J, Lyle, L, Salinas, M, Page, M, Connell, K, Park, G, Norman, K, Murphy, T & Pardoe, C 2017, 'Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago', Nature, vol. 547, no. 7663, pp. 306-310. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22968

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T1 - Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago

AU - Clarkson, Chris

AU - Jacobs, Zenobia

AU - Marwick, Ben

AU - Fullagar, Richard

AU - Wallis, Lynley

AU - Smith, Michael

AU - Roberts, Richard

AU - Hayes, Elspeth

AU - Lowe, Kelsey

AU - Carah, Xavier

AU - Florin, S.

AU - McNeil, Jessica

AU - Cox, Delyth

AU - Arnold, Lee

AU - Hua, Quan

AU - Huntley, Jillian

AU - Brand, Helen

AU - Manne, Tiina

AU - Fairbairn, Andrew

AU - Shulmeister, James

AU - Lyle, Lindsey

AU - Salinas, Makiah

AU - Page, Mara

AU - Connell, Kate

AU - Park, Gayoung

AU - Norman, Kasih

AU - Murphy, Tessa

AU - Pardoe, Colin

PY - 2017

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AB - 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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VL - 547

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JO - Nature

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ER -

Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago

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