[Paper] Abrupt onset of intensive human occupation 44,000 years ago on the threshold of Sahul

via Nature Communications, 22 May 2024: Paper by Shipton et al. describes new evidence of intensive human occupation in Timor-Leste around 44,000 years ago, marking a significant migration phase. The Laili site reveals that early humans likely bypassed Timor in initial migrations to Australia, instead using New Guinea. This discovery challenges previous theories and highlights a major colonization effort.

Archaeological evidence attests multiple early dispersals of Homo sapiens out of Africa, but genetic evidence points to the primacy of a single dispersal 70-40 ka. Laili in Timor-Leste is on the southern dispersal route between Eurasia and Australasia and has the earliest record of human occupation in the eastern Wallacean archipelago. New evidence from the site shows that, unusually in the region, sediment accumulated in the shelter without human occupation, in the window 59–54 ka. This was followed by an abrupt onset of intensive human habitation beginning ~44 ka. The initial occupation is distinctive from overlying layers in the aquatic focus of faunal exploitation, while it has similarities in material culture to other early Homo sapiens sites in Wallacea. We suggest that the intensive early occupation at Laili represents a colonisation phase, which may have overwhelmed previous human dispersals in this part of the world.

Source: Abrupt onset of intensive human occupation 44,000 years ago on the threshold of Sahul | Nature Communications

See also:

• Excavation indicates a major ancient migration to Timor Island | UCL, 22 May 2024
• ‘Sterile’ cave discovery reshapes timelines for Australia’s first arrivals – again | Cosmos, 22 May 2024
• Excavation reveals ‘major’ ancient migration to Timor Island | Science Daily, 22 May 2024
• Early humans took northern route to Australia, cave find suggests | New Scientist, 22 May 2024
• A rare find in ancient Timorese mud may rewrite the history of human settlement in Australasia | The Conversation, 22 May 2024
• Excavation reveals major ancient migration to Timor Island | National Tribune, 22 May 2024
• New study rewrites theory of how first humans arrived in Australia | The Independent, 23 May 2024
• Excavation reveals ‘major’ ancient migration to Timor Island | ANU, 23 May 2024
• Forty-four thousand year artefacts reveal more about first migrations to Australia | ABC News, 23 May 2024
• Archaeologists Discover Clues to Ancient Migration Route That Brought Humans to Australia | Smithsonian, 07 Jun 2024