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The prehistory of Australia is the period between the first human habitation of the Australian continent and the colonisation of Australia in 1788, which marks the start of consistent written documentation of Australia. This period has been variously estimated, with most evidence suggesting that it goes back between 50,000 and 65,000 years.
This is a list of Australian Aboriginal prehistoric sites. Key: BGS = Below ground surface; C14 = Radiocarbon date; char. = charcoal; OSL = Optical stimulated thermoluminescence; AA = Australian Archaeology
The site is located at the confluence of Dry Creek and the Maribyrnong River, 1.5 km (0.93 mi) north of Keilor, Victoria at The site was found when artefacts were exposed in sand quarries, and as a result of increased bank erosion of the river terraces due to runoff from the then recently opened Melbourne Airport.
Arnhem Land, Australia: 65–50: Madjedbebe: The oldest human skeletal remains are the 40ky old Lake Mungo remains in New South Wales, but human ornaments discovered at Devil's Lair in Western Australia have been dated to 48 kya and artifacts at Madjedbebe in Northern Territory are dated to at least 50 kya, and to 62.1 ± 2.9 ka in one 2017 study.
However, early Aboriginal peoples appear to have rapidly eliminated the megafauna of Tasmania about 41,000 years ago (following formation of a land bridge to Australia about 43,000 years ago as Ice Age sea levels declined) without using fire to modify the environment there, [7] [8] [9] implying that at least in this case hunting was the most ...
The fossils at Riversleigh are unusual because they are found in soft freshwater limestone which has not been compacted. [2] This means the animal remains retain their three-dimensional structure, rather than being partially crushed like in most fossil sites. The area is located within the catchment of the Gregory River. [3]
The oldest rock art was produced more than 28,000 years ago, making it the oldest securely dated prehistoric art in Australia. [2] The cave was still visited by members of the Jawoyn within living memory, possibly until as late as the 1950s, [ 3 ] but its existence had been forgotten until its 2006 rediscovery.
Fossils found at Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, suggest that 110 million years ago Australia supported a number of different monotremes, but did not support any marsupials. [4] Marsupials appear to have evolved during the Cretaceous in the contemporary northern hemisphere, to judge from a 100-million-year-old marsupial fossil, Kokopellia ...