When did the first signs of human activity appear on the island, which is now separated from the cradle of humanity by nothing less than the Indian Ocean? To your stay, LEC takes you back to the very beginnings ofAustralia’s history.
Australia was even larger tens of thousands of years ago
During the major ice ages, the general retreat of the seas had created an Australia even larger than it is today. At that time, the following were connected:
- the island of Australia
- New Guinea
- Tasmania
- the vast continental plateaus, which have since been submerged
In eastern Indonesia, small inlets still separated this region from mainland Asia.
Discoveries dating back 40,000 years in southern Australia
Scientists and prehistorians have determined that early humans nevertheless crossed these narrow straits to settle in Australia. They undertook this migration during the Würm, the fourth and final glacial period of the Quaternary, between 80,000 and 10,000 B.C. Researchers base their conclusions on the discovery in Mungo, in southern Australia, of traces of human activity dating back nearly 40,000 years.
A young Australian woman who lived 25,000 years ago
The site’s significance is heightened by the fact that the remains of a young woman, dating back “only” 25,000 years, were discovered in the same area. Her physical features differed little from those of modern-day Aboriginal people. Numerous other graves have also been unearthed in the surrounding area.
The Art of Early Australian People
From paintings to engravings, rock art also hasa longhistory in Australia. Linear designs carved into a cave in the southern part of the island date back 20,000 years. These works depict people, animals, and symbolic motifs that are now reproduced by contemporary Aboriginal artists as a tribute.