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Neanderthal DNA may refute 65,000-year-old date for human occupation in Australia, but not all experts are convinced
Live Science ^ | July 3, 2025 | Kristina Killgrove

Posted on 08/06/2025 1:03:52 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

...archaeological evidence at one site called Madjedbebe in the far north of Australia's Northern Territory suggests the area may have been occupied much earlier -- at least 65,000 years ago.

Archaeologists recovered human-made artifacts, including stone tools and ocher "crayons," from the Madjedbebe rock shelter and published their findings in a 2017 study. One difficulty in dating the artifacts, however, was the copious amount of sand on the floor of the rock shelter, which can move easily and cause artifacts to fall farther down, making them look older than they are.

Although the research team took steps to counteract this issue and landed on a 65,000-year-old date, Madjedbebe's occupation timing is still uncertain because it is by far the oldest archaeological site in Australia, making it an outlier.

"It doesn't necessarily mean that the data is wrong," O'Connell said, "but it does mean that if the data is right, the people responsible for Madjedbebe are not ancestral to any significant degree to modern Sahul populations."

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: ancientautopsies; ancientnavigation; australia; caveart; crevo; evospeculation; fauxiantroll; fauxiantrolls; genealogy; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; lucy; madjedbebe; missingtransitions; neandertal; neandertals; neanderthal; neanderthals; oldearthspeculation; piltdownman; sahul; storkzilla; youngearthdelusion; youngearthdelusions

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A map of what Australia and Pacific Islands may have looked like during the last ice age.
Image credit: Alamy
Image credit: Alamy

1 posted on 08/06/2025 1:03:52 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...

2 posted on 08/06/2025 1:04:23 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The Demagogic Party is a collection of violent, rival street gangs.)
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IOW, Neandertal was already in Australia before 50K ago; orrrr, our Neandertal ancestors and our other ancestors mated more than once and/or well before 50K years ago; orrrr, the idea that humans settled Australia and then no one else arrived for 64,500 years is a ninny idea.

3 posted on 08/06/2025 1:05:05 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The Demagogic Party is a collection of violent, rival street gangs.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Neanderthals appear to be a closer genetic link to BigFoot than Humans (i.e. Adam & Eve)


4 posted on 08/06/2025 1:16:22 PM PDT by newfreep ("There is no race problem...just a problem race")
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To: SunkenCiv
Oh no....they don't all agree.

You know what that means...

More GRANT MONEY.

5 posted on 08/06/2025 1:17:02 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: SunkenCiv

Excerpt:
“Humans did not arrive in Australia 65,000 years ago, and likely didn’t reach the land down under until around 50,000 years ago, a controversial new paper reports.

“The reasoning behind the finding is that modern humans didn’t mate with Neanderthals until around 50,000 years ago, but Indigenous Australians have a small percentage of Neanderthal DNA. So, the first Australians could not have arrived until after humans mated with Neanderthals.

“But we can’t yet rule out archaeological evidence that places humans on the continent much earlier than genetic models do, other experts say.”


6 posted on 08/06/2025 1:23:31 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: SunkenCiv

Today’s conventional wisdom is tomorrow’s old wives tales.


7 posted on 08/06/2025 1:34:54 PM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham ("God is a spirit, and man His means of walking on the earth.")
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To: SunkenCiv

Personally I think that someday they will find that they made it to the Americas. Just haven’t looked enough.

The Bering straight was open many times, not just ~ 20K years ago.


8 posted on 08/06/2025 1:35:38 PM PDT by desertfreedom765
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To: SunkenCiv
O'Connell and Allen, though, think that this sort of artwork, intensive seafaring and the creation of complex artifacts are all connected to a shift in human behavior that began around 50,000 years ago, sometimes called the Paleolithic Revolution. In a narrow window of time, they wrote, these early humans "began the process of displacing archaic hominins and occupying diverse environments in Europe and Asia."

Corresponds to the "Eve Theory of Consciousness" - some humans developed the ability for recursive thinking and therefore had an evolutionary advantage.

The collapse of Neanderthal populations followed not long after. Neanderthal DNA in humans in of mitochondrial origin, which points to the question whether humans and Neanderthal were the same species. Only male mules are sterile. Were male human Neanderthal hybrids sterile? Did the Neanderthal population collapse for this reason?

I was looking at this study to elucidate this a bit and was disappointed. Their sample is to small to support the inferences they are making - a turf battle in an academic niche focused on minutae.

9 posted on 08/06/2025 1:48:57 PM PDT by frithguild (The warmth and goodness of Gaia is a nuclear reactor in the Earth's core that burns Thorium)
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To: newfreep

“Neanderthals appear to be a closer genetic link to BigFoot than Humans (i.e. Adam & Eve)”


Yes, Neanderthals and modern humans did interbreed. Analysis of ancient human DNA has shown that most people outside of Africa carry between 1% and 2% Neanderthal DNA. This indicates that when modern humans migrated out of Africa and encountered Neanderthals in Eurasia, they interbred, resulting in offspring carrying genes from both groups.

https://www.google.com/search?q=neanderthal+mated+with+humans


10 posted on 08/06/2025 2:19:56 PM PDT by TexasGator (./There is no Sharknado system)
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To: SunkenCiv

They had 65,000 years to build cities and a civilization but instead it took British convicts to build in a few years. What were the natives doing all these years?


11 posted on 08/06/2025 2:50:39 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (Making money now. Still want much more.)
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To: minnesota_bound
What were the natives doing all these years?

Blowing didgeridoos and then sucking on them once stuffed with burning psychotropic substances.

12 posted on 08/06/2025 2:53:56 PM PDT by Sirius Lee ("Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.”)
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To: SunkenCiv

65,000 year old date? Talk about a cougar.


13 posted on 08/06/2025 2:54:28 PM PDT by Hyman Roth
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To: SunkenCiv

Goes back to the Bible. God did not say “let us create a creature and call it man”, He said “let us create man in our image”. Sounds like “man” was already a known commodity and the difference being that man as we know him is created in the image of God. A triune being made up of body, soul, and spirit.

So what went on here on this earth between Genesis 1 and 2, only God really knows, but “scientists” dig up parts of it and mistakenly think it has something to do with us. Like the Bible also states, “thinking themselves wise, they became fools”.


14 posted on 08/06/2025 4:08:00 PM PDT by Democrat = party of treason
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To: TexasGator

Thanks for your post.

The point I was making humans (i.e. Adam & Eve) did NOT evolve from Neanderthals’ or apes.


15 posted on 08/06/2025 4:08:07 PM PDT by newfreep ("There is no race problem...just a problem race")
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To: newfreep

Since there is no Bigfoot DNA, obviously you’re lying.


16 posted on 08/06/2025 5:19:02 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The Demagogic Party is a collection of violent, rival street gangs.)
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To: Hyman Roth

Yeah, dating one would tend to give one paws.


17 posted on 08/06/2025 5:21:14 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The Demagogic Party is a collection of violent, rival street gangs.)
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To: minnesota_bound

They painted stuff on cliff faces, but not 65K worth.


18 posted on 08/06/2025 5:22:15 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The Demagogic Party is a collection of violent, rival street gangs.)
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To: minnesota_bound

Huffing petrol.


19 posted on 08/06/2025 6:07:22 PM PDT by Mr. Blond
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To: newfreep
Neanderthals appear to be a closer genetic link to BigFoot than Humans (i.e. Adam & Eve)

How do you know? Do you have a Bigfoot DNA sample?

20 posted on 08/06/2025 6:46:18 PM PDT by libertylover (The HBM (Has Been Media) is almost all AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
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