The research for this article was for an account of the first people to reach Australia and we will cover that first. However, it also led to new information that suggests that there was interbreeding with a new species of humanoid. But first, let us consider where the first Australians came from and when and how they got there.
Around 200,000 years ago we believe that the first humans inhabited parts of East Africa. Between 70,000 and perhaps 120,000 years ago there appears to have been a mass exodus out of Africa and over the following millennia, humans reached most parts of the world. Those that we know as the first Australians are the Aboriginal people who we think reached Australia about 72,000 years ago. The evidence for this comes from carbon dating of artefacts. However, we need to be cautious because carbon dating gets less accurate for times earlier than 40,000 years.
The reason for the exodus is thought to have been due to climate change; perhaps another lesson for us to learn because of the climate change we are undergoing. The route humans travelled to reach Australia which was at that time, a part of a prehistoric supercontinent, called Sahul. It consisted of a land mass which included parts of Asia, Papua New Guinea, Australia and Tasmania. Rising sea levels would separate these lands to leave them as we currently know them.
In recent times DNA saliva samples were taken from 83 present-day Aboriginals and 25 native people of Papua New Guinea. The results more than surprised the researchers. It indicated that there was at some time, interbreeding with a species of Neanderthal previously unknown. Further analysis appeared to point to a new species with similarities to a species that inhabited Siberia. It is thought that the interbreeding probably occurred somewhere in the Sahul.
So, is there any physical evidence of the Denisovans? The answer is yes, but it is scarce. In 2008, a team of anthropologists reached a cave in the remote Altai Mountains. Inside, they discovered two teeth and a bracelet dating back 40,000 years. There were other bones, both human and animal. What this does show is that we still do not fully understand our own past.
Finally, it has been found that there are genetic differences between Aboriginals living in the west of Australia to those living in the east of the country. It is thought that this was due to them being unable to connect to each other because of the huge distance of desert between them.
John Pullen 