Reply to comments on Clarkson et al. (2017) 'Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago'

Authors

Christopher Clarkson, University of QueenslandFollow
Richard G. Roberts, University of WollongongFollow
Zenobia Jacobs, University of WollongongFollow
Ben Marwick, University of WollongongFollow
Richard Fullagar, University of WollongongFollow
Lee J. Arnold, Centro Nacional de Investigacion Sobre la Evolucion Humana, University of Wollongong, University of AdelaideFollow
Quan Hua, Australian Nuclear Science And Technology OrganisationFollow

RIS ID

127107

Publication Details

Clarkson, C., Roberts, R. G., Jacobs, Z., Marwick, B., Fullagar, R., Arnold, L. J. & Hua, Q. (2018). Reply to comments on Clarkson et al. (2017) ‘Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago’. Australian Archaeology, 84 (1), 84-89.

Abstract

We thank the authors for their comments in the previous issue of Australian Archaeology. The 2012-2015 research at Madjedbebe offers a new and comprehensive look at the early occupation of Sahul and adds substantially to our knowledge of the timing of that event and the behaviour of the first people to enter the region. Establishing occupation of northern Australia by 65 ± 6 thousand years ago (ka, with the uncertainty expressed at 95.4% probability) pushes human presence in the Top End back beyond the earliest ages so far reported for other Australian sites by c. 5,000-15,000 years ,thus raising interesting questions as to the latitudinal extent of continental occupation prior to 50 ka.