Humans in Australia by Simon Fleming

Kakadu National Park, Kakadu Hwy, Jabiru NT

littlenerk — 2024-03-10 21:21:40 UTC

Remember those old cave paintings in the Kimberlies? This is the base material. In the center of the large base rock, we can see several different samples of dried clay beaten to a powder. We can also see scratch marks around the rock, suggesting continuous and repeated impact. This is the oldest evidence we have of humans in Australia (so far), and this has been dated back to between 53,000 and 59,000 years ago.

Lake Mungo, New South Wales

littlenerk — 2024-03-10 21:22:27 UTC

Check out the way this dude has been laid out. Unless he died in battle after being speared in the balls, he did not die this way. He was laid out, an example of ceremonial burial. Dated to 40,000 years ago, this is one of the earliest examples of people burying their dead, not just in Australia but in the world. Some historians and anthropologists have suggested that burying the dead is the earliest example of cultural practices among early humans. Notably, Mungo Man's (for that is his name) girlfriend was buried on the other side of the dried lake. She is a bit younger, buried only 20,000 years ago, but I like to think that even with the age gap they would have made it work!

Willandra Lakes Region, Lake Leaghur NSW

littlenerk — 2024-03-10 21:23:21 UTC

Captured in the dried lake bed are these footsteps dated to 20,000 years ago. Fossilised footprints show us that people are living here when western NSW was a series of lakes and swamps. Note the little footprints to the side - they scamper away from the tribe...

Kimberley, WA

littlenerk — 2024-03-10 21:27:19 UTC

These are some of the oldest Indigenous cave paintings we have. They have been dated to 17,500 years ago. They have been painted in ochre, which is a clay that is mixed with water to form a paint.

Wyrie Swamp, Millicent SA

littlenerk — 2024-03-10 21:28:41 UTC

This is the oldest boomerang in Australia, found in South Australia. It is only 10,000 years old. Wood, unlike bone and rocks, deteriorates rapidly. Australia's First Nations may well have been using boomerangs for much longer, but the evidence is long gone... perhaps in some cave somewhere is an even older boomerang...

Marakoopa Cave, Mayberry Road, Mayberry TAS

littlenerk — 2024-03-10 21:30:00 UTC

You are looking at some Wallaby bones. Notice how they have been sharpened and fashioned - this does not happen naturally. These were part of a large pile of bones found in a cave in southern Tasmania (which was then imaginatively called the Bone Cave - Australians are a very practical people). They would have been used as pins to hold clothes together. They have been dated to 35,000 years ago, showing that Indigenous Australians had reached the bottom of the continent by that point.

Mount Eccles (Bidj Bim) VIC

littlenerk — 2024-11-04 09:03:02 UTC

The Dreamtime story of the Guntijimara Nation seems to tell of a volcanic eruption shaping the landscape. The volcano at the heart of the story, Bidj Bim or Mount Eccles, is a dormant (sleeping) volcano that last erupted approximately 35,000-40,000 years ago. Some historians have suggested that the story has been handed down since then, making it the oldest story in human history!