Researchers have learn some of theearliest grounds for Aboriginal occupationin Australia , ply valuable insight into how these other pioneers subsist . The squad found artifacts date to 50,000 days ago in a cave settle on what is now Barrow Island , off the westerly Australian coast .
The cave stop some of the most elaborated and intact records of howthe first Aboriginal peopleon the Australian continent hold out . The land site contain evidence of charcoal , animal remains , and even work artefact such as shells that likely would have been used as knife and jewellery .
“ This web site contains cultural materials clearly associated with dates in the order of 50,000 years , ” explains Professor Peter Veth , who co - authored the study issue inQuaternary Science Reviews , in astatement . “ This pushes back the age of occupation from the previous and more conservative limit of 47,000 years ago . Even sometime dates are completely plausible . ”
The find provide the former date for primaeval people overwork the marine surround and represents some of the earliest substantial evidence of their settlement . The determination bring out that people ceaselessly inhabit in the cave scheme for ten of thousands of years , providing an astonishing cross surgical incision for much of the deep Aboriginal history .
“ The cave was used predominately as a hunt shelter between about 50,000 and 30,000 years ago before becoming a residential base for family unit grouping after 10,000 year ago,”saysProfessor Peter Veth . “ It was abandoned by about 7,000 years ago when rising sea stratum ultimately cut it off from the mainland . ”
During the majority of time the island was inhabit , it was still part of mainland Australia , however sea levels fluctuated . This think of the cave tack between being snug to the glide and further away . surprisingly , this oscillation is reflect in the change proportion of mussel shell found in the cave .
When the sea level was high , the multitude living there trust more heavily on the shellfish and other ocean creature , such as marine mammalian , turtle , and Pisces the Fishes . But when the ocean levels dropped , the research worker found a corresponding dip in the number of mussel shells , presumably as it was more of an elbow grease to transport them from the coast . Instead , they turn to the wallaby and wallaroo living in the desert champaign besiege the outcrop .
The site render a unique window into how these early human settlers adapted to their changing landscape .
