The archaeology, chronology and stratigraphy of Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II): A site in northern Australia with early occupation (original) (raw)
Related papers
On a Fast-Track: Human Discovery, Exploration and Settlement of Sahul
2012
colonisation of the Bismarck Archipelago: New evidence from New Britain. Archaeology in Oceania 39:101-130. Turney, C.S.M., M. Bird, L.K. Fifield, R.G. Roberts, M. Smith, C.E. Dortch, R. Grun, E. Lawson, L.K. Ayliffe, G.H. Miller, J. Dortch and R.G. Cresswell 2001b Early human occupation at Devil’s Lair, southwestern Australia, 50,000 years ago. Quaternary Research 55:3-13. Turney, C.S.M., M.I. Bird and R.G. Roberts 2001a Elemental 13C at Allen’s Cave, Nullabor Plain: Assessing post-depositional disturbance and reconstructing past environments. Journal of Quaternary Science 16:779-784. Turney, C.S.M., A.P. Kershaw, S.C. Clemens, R. Branch, P.T. Moss and L.K. Fifield 2004 Millennial and orbital variations of El Niño/Southern Oscillation and high latitude climate in the last glacial period. Nature 428:306-310. Ugan, A. 2005 Does size matter? Body size, mass collecting and their implications for prehistoric foraging behavior. American Antiquity 70:75-90. Ugan, A., J. Bright and A. Roge...
SahulArch: A geochronological database for the archaeology of Sahul
Australian Archaeology, 2023
Reliable chronological frameworks for archaeological sites are essential for accurate interpretations of the past. Geochronology represents the core of interdisciplinary research because it allows integration of diverse data on a common timeline. Since the radiocarbon revolution in Australian archaeology in the 1950s, thousands of ages have been produced across Sahul (combined landmass of Australia and New Guinea). Methods such as thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) have also been used on Australian archaeological deposits and enabled the study of the deep past beyond the limits of radiocarbon dating. After seven decades, these geochronological methods no longer provide just a 'date', but instead, the geochronological community is focussed on providing the most reliable, precise, and reproducible ages. These aspects of age estimation are central to the framework of the SahulArch geochronological database. SahulArch is a new publicly available continental-scale dataset in which context and quality assurance criteria of each dated sample are considered as important as the age itself. SahulArch contains a total of 10,717 ages (9,504 radiocarbon, 973 OSL, and 240 TL) from 2,318 sites across the Sahul landmass. We describe the structure of SahulArch, types of auxiliary data collected, and provide a summary of the data in SahulArch.
Abrupt onset of intensive human occupation 44,000 years ago on the threshold of Sahul
Nature Communications, 2024
Archaeological evidence attests multiple early dispersals of Homo sapiens out of Africa, but genetic evidence points to the primacy of a single dispersal 70-40 ka. Laili in Timor-Leste is on the southern dispersal route between Eurasia and Australasia and has the earliest record of human occupation in the eastern Wallacean archipelago. New evidence from the site shows that, unusually in the region, sediment accumulated in the shelter without human occupation, in the window 59–54 ka. This was followed by an abrupt onset of intensive human habitation beginning ~44 ka. The initial occupation is distinctive from overlying layers in the aquatic focus of faunal exploitation, while it has similarities in material culture to other early Homo sapiens sites in Wallacea. We suggest that the intensive early occupation at Laili represents a colonisation phase, which may have overwhelmed previous human dispersals in this part of the world.
A different paradigm for the initial colonisation of Sahul
Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania, 2020
The questions of when and how humans reached Sahul, the Pleistocene continent of Australia and New Guinea, has remained a central issue of Australian archaeology since its development as an academic discipline in the mid-twentieth century. Modelling this event has persistently appealed to minimal assumptions-the simplest watercraft, the shortest routes, the smallest viable colonising groups. This paper argues that Australian archaeology can no longer ignore the way our understanding of this initial colonisation is being reshaped by current genomic research. It reviews this evidence and concludes that a colonising wave of hundreds or perhaps low thousands of people was involved. If correct, it suggests that we need to rethink our models, modify or discard the minimalist assumptions that have so far driven them and consider how this different paradigm affects our understanding of early settlement in Sahul.
Comprehensive review of archaeological data shows that Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea) was first occupied by humans ca. 47 ka (47,000 years ago); evidence for earlier arrival is weak. Colonizing populations remained low e perhaps two orders of magnitude below those estimated at European contact e for many millennia, and were long restricted to relatively favorable habitats. Though human arrival coincided with changes in native flora and fauna, these were mainly the products of climatic factors, not human interference. The genetic makeup of founding populations and their arrival date are consistent with the Late Dispersal Model of anatomically modern humans beyond SW Asia, beginning ca. 50 ka. Early Dispersal Models (120e70 ka) are not refuted, but draw no support from the Sahul record as currently understood.
Human occupation of the Kimberley coast of northwest Australia 50,000 years ago
Quaternary Science Reviews, 2022
The peopling of Sahul (the combined landmass of New Guinea and Australia) is a topic of much debate. The Kimberley region of Western Australia holds many of Australia's oldest known archaeological sites. Here, we review the chronological and archaeological data available for the Kimberley from early Marine Isotope Stage 3 to the present, linking episodes of site establishment and the appearance of new technologies with periods of climatic and sea-level change. We report optical ages showing human occupation of Widgingarri 1, a rockshelter located on the Kimberley coast of northwest Australia, as early as 50,000 years ago, when the site was located more than 100 km from the Late Pleistocene coastline. We also present the first detailed analysis of the stone artefacts, including flakes from ground stone axes, grinding stones and ground haematite recovered from the deepest excavated layer. The high proportion of flakes from ground axe production and resharpening in the earliest occupation phase emphasises the importance of this complex technology in the first peopling of northern Sahul. Artefact analyses indicate changes in settlement patterns through time, with an increase in mobility in the terminal Pleistocene and a shift to lower mobility during the late Holocene. The optical ages for Widgingarri 1 mean that the Kimberley now contains the greatest number of sites in Sahul with earliest occupation dated to more than 46,000 years ago, overlapping with the time of initial occupation of sites in other regions across the continent.
Both half right: Updating the evidence for dating first human arrivals in Sahul
This paper updates our previous analyses of the evidence for the timing of human arrival in Sahul. It reviews advances in dating technologies, summarises new data for sites published a decade ago or earlier, and examines the evidence from sites published since 2004. Extensions in time for first arrival can be attributed to improvements in both luminescence and radiocarbon dating techniques and especially the refinement of 14C calibration. The similarity of the ages of the earliest dates and their consistency with data from eastern Asia and Wallacea suggests that the discipline has now defined an event horizon that places first colonisation near but somewhere short of 50,000 years ago.