Archaeology & History

Australia find 'rewrites the history books'

By T.K. Randall
July 20, 2017 ·  8 comments

The Aborigines have lived in Australia for tens of thousands of years. Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Steve Evans The discovery was made during an excavation at Madjedbebe rock shelter near Australia's Kakadu National Park where researchers unearthed several artefacts dating back 65,000 years.

The items, including stone axes and ochre crayons, are among the oldest ever found.

Previous studies had suggested that the Aborigines, being officially the world's oldest continuous civilization, had arrived in Australia from Asia around 47,000 years ago.Now however, it appears as though this figure may have to be revised significantly.

"We have managed to establish a new age for first occupation in Australia and pushed it back by about 18,000 years beyond what was the previous established age of about 47,000 years," said Associate Prof Chris Clarkson from the University of Queensland.

"This has huge implications for everything from the out-of-Africa story to the extinction of megafauna and Aboriginal peoples' own knowledge of how long they have been in this country."

Source: BBC News | Comments (8)

Tags: Aborigines, Australia