New finds show humans in Australian interior 50 000 years ago

HUMANS started to settle inland in Australia 10 000 years earlier than previously believed, scientists said this week after discovering thousands of artefacts and bones in a rock shelter in the remote outback.

People are thought to have arrived in Australia about 50 000 years ago.

But the timing of their settlement in the arid interior, their use of tools and their interaction with ancient animals has been under debate.

The researchers said the discoveries in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, 450km from the state capital Adelaide, showed that humans occupied the site from 46 000 to 49 000 years ago. “We present evidence from Warratyi rock shelter in the southern interior that shows that humans occupied arid Australia by about [49 000 years ago, 10 000 years] earlier than previously reported,” the report published in the journal Nature said.

The objects recovered also represented the earliest known use in Australia of bone tools (38 000 to 40 000 years ago) and pigments like red ochre (46 000 to 49 000 years ago).

Research archaeologist Giles Hamm, of South Australia’s La Trobe University, the study’s lead researcher, said: “It complements the work done on Australia’s coasts. It fits in with this threshold of dates . . . between 45 000 and 50 000 [years ago],”

“What is different about it is it’s the southernmost oldest site in the continent . . . it shows that people were moving very quickly around the continent.

“If people are coming in at 50 000 [years ago], it means that people are moving in a whole range of directions perhaps.

“And we have some new genetic evidence that might also be adding data to that question.”

The study recovered 4 300 artefacts, 3kg of bones, ochre and plant matter.

A recovered bone chunk was identified as coming from a Diprotodon optatum, the largest known marsupial, while an eggshell was linked to a giant extinct bird.

Flinders University megafauna expert Gavin Prideaux said this suggested that humans were interacting with ancient animals. – AFP