Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

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; sciencehatingtrolls; storkzilla; youngearthdelusion; youngearthdelusions
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021 last
To: newfreep

Everyone has 1-2% Neanderthal DNA-except people whose ancestry is from Africa until recently-a couple of centuries or so-Neanderthals were certainly human-more like just another race, rather than a separate species.

And they most certainly interbred with our ancestor Homo Sapiens to the point that they were likely eventually absorbed into our race because Sapiens DNA was stronger and more resilient. Happens in the animal world, too-the more fertile group of a species absorbs the less fertile ones, making them extinct as a separate group-reminds me of the Borg-resistance is futile-you will be assimilated...

There is no DNA or other hard evidence that sasquatch/bigfoot exists now or ever did-but people in the Pacific NW are absolutely certain that creature exists, as if it is proven fact-MrT5 did-he was from Wa, and my best friend and employer who is from Oregon does-he believes sasquatch is real and lives in the mountain forests. If sasquatch exists, eventually he will be seen in someone’s drone video footage that isn’t faked sooner than later, with so many researchers, campers, etc looking for him...


21 posted on 08/06/2025 7:42:04 PM PDT by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"... )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson