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Early human occupation of northern Australia: archaeology and thermoluminescence dating of Jinmium rock-shelter, Northern Territory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

R. L. K. Fullagar ,
D. M. Price  and
L. M. Head
R. L. K. Fullagar
Affiliation:
Division of Anthropology, Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
D. M. Price
Affiliation:
School of Geosciences, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
L. M. Head
Affiliation:
School of Geosciences, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
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Extract

The nature and date of the human colonization of Australia remains a key issue in prehistory at the world scale, for a sufficiently early presence there indicates either Homo sapiens sapiens arriving precociously in a place remote from a supposed African origin, or a greater competence in sea-crossing than has been expected of archaic humans. Stratigraphic integrity, the new science of luminescent dating and the recognition of worked stone and of rock-engraving are immediate issues in this report from far northwestern Australia.

Type
Papers
Information
Antiquity , Volume 70 , Issue 270 , December 1996 , pp. 751 - 773
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1996

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