Aboriginal people migrate to Northern Australia through Asia
Prior to the arrival of Homo sapiens or Humans in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, these places were inhabited by another species of Hominoid, Homo heidelburgensis or Neanderthals. Neanderthals begin to show on the archaeological record at around 400,000 years ago and became extinct at about 35,000 years ago with the arrival of Humans. Humans are so adaptable we have migrated to almost every part of the world and in the process forced the extinction of all other species of Hominoids. We are the only species of Hominoid left.
Before about 50,000 years ago, when humans successfully migrated out of Africa, we were already beginning to diverge into distinct populations.
The migration of Homo sapiens from 150,000 to 40,000 years
ago. Courtesy of Tadeusz Majeski/ ABC Press
Our species evolved in Africa 200,000 years ago. Paleoanthropological studies have found that people spread out of Africa in at least two waves. The earlier wave travelled from Eastern Africa into the east coast of the Mediterranean known as the Levant about 80,000 years ago. The later second wave moved from Africa into the Arabian Peninsula and continued eastward following the coast of South Asia about 50,000 years ago. This southern wave kept rolling along reaching South East Asia, where one branch of people migrated to Australia and New Guinea, while other branches moved along the coast of East Asia. A branch of this second wave migration moved north, into the central Asia and spread west into Europe and east into Siberia about 40,000 years ago. Eventually humans made their way to the American continent about 20,000 years ago.
The actual timing of the southern wave of humans is hard to ascertain because it appears to have moved along the coast. After the end of the last Ice Age 12,000 years ago the melting glaciers drowned large stretches of coastline so the evidence is now under the ocean. The fossils we have of these migrants offer few clues as to what sparked their spread.
Migration to the Australian continent for these travellers was a difficult task. Australia is separated from South East Asia by a great expanse of water. During the last Ice Age, the distance was smaller because so much water was locked up in glaciers. But before 50,000 years ago humans would still have faced a voyage across fifty miles of open sea to get to Australia. They must have built sea craft strong enough to survive the voyage, a technological feat that went beyond making spears or lighting fires.
Macassan prahu with crew. Aboriginal rock painting,
Groote Eylandt. Courtesy Northern Territory Museum
& Art Gallery
The first Aboriginal people arrived on the northwest coast of Australia between 65,000 and 40,000 years ago. The archaeological evidence suggests that Aboriginal people traded with Macassans and the peoples of southern Java for thousands of years. Aboriginal people eventually populated the entire continent of Australia constantly hunting the birds, fish and animals and taking advantage of the land’s resources. That was until the coming of Europeans in the 1600’s.
