Uncovering the Human Migration to Australia through Ancient Plant Remains

Tiny pieces of plant resin indicate that humans lived on an island in eastern Indonesia at least 55,000 years ago, shedding light on the route modern humans may have taken to migrate to Australia.

Modern people Travelled to Australia by Towards the southeast Traveling from the Asian continent Through present-day Indonesia. It has also occurred on many islands in Southeast Asia, although the exact date is debated. Dylan Gaffney At Oxford University. Modern genetic evidence suggests that humans arrived less than 50,000 years ago, Archaeological evidence. He said the find suggests an earlier arrival, “perhaps 65,000 or even 80,000 years ago.”

Additionally, there is ongoing debate over the exact route they took, as the terrain in the region was different at the time. The Earth was in a cold glacial period, when more water was locked in ice sheets and sea levels were lower, meaning some landmasses that are now islands were connected to the mainland. In the western part of the region, Borneo, Sumatra, and Java were all part of the Asian mainland, while in the east, New Guinea was connected to Australia.

Two possible routes Humans are Arriving in Australia. The northern route goes directly from Borneo to Sulawesi, then south through New Guinea to Australia. The southern route goes through Java, Bali, and Timor to Northern Australia.

To understand how people traveled, Gaffney and his colleagues excavated Moloro Cave on Waigeo Island. Raja Ampat Islands It lies in the west of New Guinea, along the northern route, and in the sediments at the bottom of the cave, the team found evidence of human occupation, including charcoal and several stone fragments.

Importantly, Gaffney’s team found a piece of resin just 1.4 centimeters in diameter that, with its angular shape, appears to have been cut from a tree rather than a natural deposit, and radiocarbon dating has made it at least 55,000 years old.

The resin was probably used as fuel for fire, Gaffney says. “It’s highly flammable, so it makes a good light source in the cave,” but there are other possibilities, like fragrance or glue. Whatever its use, it indicates that humans were present on Waigeo at least 55,000 years ago. “We have evidence that people were using the northern route,” Gaffney says.

The discovery adds to evidence that people first reached Australia via the northern route, he said. Cassi Norman At Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, a geographical model always showed a northern route. It’s easy to cross the sea. “The northern route involves more water crossings between islands, but the distances are shorter,” she says. Plus, “the next island is always in sight.”

But most archaeological excavations have focused on the southern route, Norman said, and researchers like Gaffney have only recently begun to explore the northern route.

One key discovery announced in July was a 50,000-year-old cave painting of a pig found along the northern route in Sulawesi. Similarly, a study published in May found no evidence of human presence on Timor Island before 44,000 years ago, which lies on the southern route, suggesting the path was used later.

A final intriguing mystery in all of this is the absence in the Australian fossil record of Denisovans, an extinct group of humans known to have lived on the Asian mainland. Many populations in Southeast Asia have Denisovan DNA, including people in Papua New Guinea, who DNA from two different Denisovan groups. It suggested, but didn’t prove, that Denisovans lived in New Guinea. But there’s no trace of them in Australia. “As far as we know,” Norman says, “there were no others” [but Homo sapiens] here.”