Human occupation of the Kimberley coast of northwest Australia 50,000 years ago

dc.contributor.authorNorman, Kasih
dc.contributor.authorShipton, Ceri
dc.contributor.authorO'Connor, Sue
dc.contributor.authorMalanali, Wudugu
dc.contributor.authorCollins, Peter
dc.contributor.authorWood, Rachel
dc.contributor.authorSaktura, Wanchese M
dc.contributor.authorRoberts, Richard G
dc.contributor.authorJacobs, Zenobia
dc.date.accessioned2024-03-26T03:16:09Z
dc.date.available2024-03-26T03:16:09Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.date.updated2022-11-13T07:18:28Z
dc.description.abstractThe peopling of Sahul (the combined landmass of New Guinea and Australia) is a topic of much debate. The Kimberley region of Western Australia holds many of Australia's oldest known archaeological sites. Here, we review the chronological and archaeological data available for the Kimberley from early Marine Isotope Stage 3 to the present, linking episodes of site establishment and the appearance of new technologies with periods of climatic and sea-level change. We report optical ages showing human occupation of Widgingarri 1, a rockshelter located on the Kimberley coast of northwest Australia, as early as 50,000 years ago, when the site was located more than 100 km from the Late Pleistocene coastline. We also present the first detailed analysis of the stone artefacts, including flakes from ground stone axes, grinding stones and ground haematite recovered from the deepest excavated layer. The high proportion of flakes from ground axe production and resharpening in the earliest occupation phase emphasises the importance of this complex technology in the first peopling of northern Sahul. Artefact analyses indicate changes in settlement patterns through time, with an increase in mobility in the terminal Pleistocene and a shift to lower mobility during the late Holocene. The optical ages for Widgingarri 1 mean that the Kimberley now contains the greatest number of sites in Sahul with earliest occupation dated to more than 46,000 years ago, overlapping with the time of initial occupation of sites in other regions across the continent.en_AU
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_AU
dc.identifier.issn0277-3791en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/316318
dc.language.isoen_AUen_AU
dc.provenanceThis is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).en_AU
dc.publisherPergamon-Elsevier Ltden_AU
dc.relationhttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/CE170100015en_AU
dc.rights© 2022 The authorsen_AU
dc.rights.licenseCreative Commons Attribution licenceen_AU
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/4.0/en_AU
dc.sourceQuaternary Science Reviewsen_AU
dc.subjectWidgingarri 1en_AU
dc.subjectWestern Australiaen_AU
dc.subjectStone artefactsen_AU
dc.subjectRadiocarbon datingen_AU
dc.subjectOptical datingen_AU
dc.subjectSingle-grain OSLen_AU
dc.subjectNorthern Sahulen_AU
dc.titleHuman occupation of the Kimberley coast of northwest Australia 50,000 years agoen_AU
dc.typeJournal articleen_AU
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Accessen_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage107577en_AU
local.contributor.affiliationNorman, Kasih, University of Wollongongen_AU
local.contributor.affiliationShipton, Ceri, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANUen_AU
local.contributor.affiliationO'Connor, Susan, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANUen_AU
local.contributor.affiliationMalanali, Wudugu, Arraluli Clanen_AU
local.contributor.affiliationCollins, Peter, Arraluli Aboriginal Associationen_AU
local.contributor.affiliationWood, Rachel, College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANUen_AU
local.contributor.affiliationSaktura, Wanchese M, University of Wollongongen_AU
local.contributor.affiliationRoberts, Richard G, University of Wollongongen_AU
local.contributor.affiliationJacobs, Zenobia, University of Wollongongen_AU
local.contributor.authoremailu9413939@anu.edu.auen_AU
local.contributor.authoruidShipton, Ceri, u1052354en_AU
local.contributor.authoruidO'Connor, Susan, u9413939en_AU
local.contributor.authoruidWood, Rachel, u5042027en_AU
local.description.notesImported from ARIESen_AU
local.identifier.absfor450101 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander archaeologyen_AU
local.identifier.absfor430101 - Archaeological scienceen_AU
local.identifier.absseo130703 - Understanding Australia’s pasten_AU
local.identifier.ariespublicationu3391657xPUB133en_AU
local.identifier.citationvolume288en_AU
local.identifier.doi10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107577en_AU
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByu3391657en_AU
local.publisher.urlhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/en_AU
local.type.statusPublished Versionen_AU

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