49,000-year-old artefacts have been unearthed in PNG, suggesting a rethink of human migration patterns.
ANCIENT ARTEFACTS UNEARTHED IN the highlands of Papua New Guinea provide some of the earliest evidence of human settlement of Sahul, the primordial landmass that once joined Papua New Guinea with Australia.
Charred nut shells from pandanus trees, fragments of animal bone and the remains of stone axes were found in the remote Ivane Valley of south-eastern Papua New Guinea – near the famous Kokoda Track – by a team led by archaeology Professor Glenn Summerhayes from the University of Otago, New Zealand.
These artefacts, which have been dated to between 49,000 and 44,000 years old, may prompt a rethink of the traditional view that the prehistoric migration of people throughout the world took place along the coasts.
“This is among the earliest evidence of human habitation in this part of the world, or indeed any place outside Africa, India and the Middle East,” Glenn told Australian Geographic. “Many models for the movements of people argue for a colonisation route along the coast, arguing that people were pre-adapted to a coastal way of life…Our evidence shows such a pre-adaptation would have been short lived as people moved into highland valleys as soon as they got out of their canoes.”
PNG find prompts human migration rethink
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