Posted on 12/17/2009 5:43:33 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Evidence of what could be Australia's earliest human occupation has been found on the fringe of desert in the country's remote northwest, according to archaeologists.
Peter Veth, of the Australian National University, said an artefact dated at between 45,000 and 50,000 years old found near the shores of Lake Gregory could be the start of a 25-year study into Australia's first humans.
"This is the first evidence of human activity ... in the arid northwest of the continent which can be dated to a time before the last great Ice Age," he said in a statement.
It was likely to be of "the same order of antiquity" as the oldest human remains found in the country, discovered in the country's eastern state of New South Wales in 1969 and dated at around 40,000 years old, he said.
"It's just important because it's an early site full stop," remarked Dr Veth of the discovery, a piece of stone from which flakes have been struck to form tools.
"To get an early date there and then to get evidence of repeat occupation is highly significant."
Dr Veth said the archaeologists had been extremely conservative in their dating of the artefact, which was found in 2008, adding that the site was likely to be a rich source of data in the years to come.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofmalta.com ...
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Check her for a pouch.
It always amazes me how the conventional (lack of) thinking puts huge gaps between, for example, humans in Australia and humans in the Pacific. Flores Island, 800K years ago, then nothing for 750,000 years, then Australia, then not a move for another 46,000 years, then the Pacific. And for that matter, 7 million years ago near Lake Chad (sez some), no one budges, 6,300,000 years go by, Heidelbergensis in Asia.
Huh, maybe I screwed up... no, that question mark was in the URL... I’m getting a “Connection Refused” error.
I have noticed that as well. What amazes me is that humans supposedly didn't spread out for thousands and thousands of years. I know there are huge mountain ranges and glaciers etc..., but I still find it amazing that the conventional thinking is that they stayed in one place for SO long. You would think curiosity alone would have driven them to explore all parts of the earth, as long as life was sustainable where they went.
Yup. Even here:
Genetic studies show modern humans on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau 21,000 years ago
A measly 15,000 years? Pfff...
I know what ya mean. I’ve got 120,000 year old chunks of guys like that in my crap. ;’)
It’s particularly ridiculous when one considers that so many animal species did so, and humans are much more adaptable.
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