Aboriginal Australian culture has long been recognized as humanity’s oldest continuous living culture, with scientific literature estimating their arrival on the continent at 65,000 years ago. However, new genetics research analyzing traces of Neanderthal DNA in modern humans is challenging this established timeline, suggesting the actual arrival date was no more than 50,000 years ago.
The study, conducted by James O’Connell, Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the University of Utah’s Department of Anthropology, in collaboration with archaeologist Jim Allen from Australia’s La Trobe University, has appeared in the journal Archaeology in Oceania. Their findings highlight conclusions from recent genetic studies arguing that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals interbred only once, over a period of several thousand years between 43,500 and 51,500 years before present.
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