Journal
JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE
Volume 56, Issue -, Pages 73-84Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2015.02.020
Keywords
Sahul; Pleistocene colonization; Megafaunal extinctions; Habitat management by fire; Anatomically modern human dispersals
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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 - perhaps two orders of magnitude below those estimated at European contact - 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 (120-70 ka) are not refuted, but draw no support from the Sahul record as currently understood. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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