Palaeoenvironments and prehistory of Australia's tropical Top End

Abstract

The remote 'Top End' of Australia, far distant from the main urban centres, has been largely neglected in the search for evidence of the long-term interaction between humans and their envornment. However, for those few areas that have been studiesd in detail, there is significant evidence for human modification of the environment, and a variety of human responses to environmental change. Given the preliminary nature of Quaternary research within the region, the success to date suggests a great potential for answering questions about prehistoric landscape change and human ecology. Some of the human-environment interactions to be discussed, such as the alteration of fire regimes which accompanied the appearance of humans and their firesticks, are indicated in other parts of the continent, while others such as then entry of people into Australia and their utilisation of broad floodplains that formed during the Holocene, are best addressed in tropical northern Australia.