Australia is settled
People cross deep water to reach a continent no hominin had ever seen, 65,000 years ago.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 5 thousand years
- Known to
- ± 6 thousand years
- Era
- Late Pleistocene, Quaternary
Excavation at Madjedbebe in Arnhem Land, dated by optical stimulated luminescence, places human occupation of northern Australia at around 65,000 years ago, with ground-edge hatchets, grinding stones and processed ochre — a sophisticated toolkit from the outset. Reaching Sahul required multiple sea crossings, at least one of them 70 to 100 kilometres over water never visible from the departure shore. It is the earliest firm evidence of deliberate seafaring anywhere.