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Here, we report the first attempt to use isotope geochemistry to improve understanding of the experiences of Indigenous Australians living on the colonial frontier in late 19th century CE Australia. In the study, we analysed strontium (87Sr/86Sr), carbon (δ13C), and oxygen (δ18O) isotope ratios from the tooth enamel and dentine of six individuals who died in Normanton, Queensland, in the 1890s. The study was a collaboration between scientists and the local Traditional Owners, the Gkuthaarn and Kukatj people, and was carried out to promote truth and reconciliation. The enamel 87Sr/86Sr results suggest that the individuals moved to Normanton from three geologically distinct regions during the period of European expansion into the Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York. This is consistent with the oral histories and historical documents, which suggest that many Indigenous people in the Gulf Country were displaced to camps on the outskirts of towns like Normanton because of European settlement. The δ13C values we obtained indicate that the individuals mostly ate C4 plants and/or C4-plant-consuming herbivores. When combined with the fact that some of the individuals’ teeth had dental caries, this suggests that the individuals may have had regular access to introduced foods. The enamel δ18O values are high compared to an international comparative sample, at 0.72–4.69‰ VPDB. We suspect the elevated values are due to a combination of a high degree of preferential loss of 16O through evaporation of surface water, the amount effect associated with the Australian monsoon, and high prevalence of introduced infectious diseases. Together, the results of our study demonstrate that isotopic analysis of human remains has the potential to further illuminate the effects of European colonisation on Indigenous people in Australia. Perhaps most importantly in connection with this, our study’s results show that isotopic analyses of human remains can provide surprisingly detailed information about the lives of a category of Indigenous Australians who rarely appear in the documents written by early ethnographers and colonial officials—subadults. That the analysis of the skeletal remains of Indigenous Australians can now contribute to the truth and reconciliation process is an unexpected, interesting, and welcome development in the story of bioarchaeology in Australia.

It has long been accepted that the Indigenous groups of Australia's Cape York Peninsula have numerous cultural traits that were adopted from people in New Guinea and/or the Torres Strait Islands after the formation of the Torres Strait around 8000 years ago. However, opinions differ on whether the movement of the traits in question was accompanied by gene flow events. Some argue for a significant amount of gene flow resulting from voyages from New Guinea and the Torres Strait Islands down the east coast of Cape York. Others contend that there was only contact at the northern end of the Cape and that the cultural traits spread through down-the-line transmission. In recent years partnerships between Australian institutions and Indigenous communities in Cape York have led to new genetic research that provides benefits to both parties. We review the currently available genetic data that have the potential to shed light on this issue, concluding that the data are inconsistent with significant gene flow between Indigenous Australians and Papuan people between 8000 years ago and the colonial period. There are indications of gene flow, but it most likely occurred in the Pleistocene rather than the Holocene. As such, the currently available genomic data do not support the hypothesis that the diffusion of cultural traits from New Guinea and/or the Torres Strait Islands into Cape York was accompanied by gene flow. The data suggest instead that the cultural traits most probably spread via down-the-line trade, exchange, and imitation. Our review highlights the gaps in the available genomic information from contemporary and ancestral descendants of Australia's first settlers, and we suggest that researchers adopt a more collaborative approach, involving Indigenous communities and their knowledge in project design, data collection, and dissemination, in future genomic studies in Australia.

Ethnohistoric accounts indicate that the people of Australia's Channel Country engaged in activities rarely recorded elsewhere on the continent, including food storage, aquaculture and possible cultivation, yet there has been little archaeological fieldwork to verify these accounts. Here, the authors report on a collaborative research project initiated by the Mithaka people addressing this lack of archaeological investigation. The results show that Mithaka Country has a substantial and diverse archaeological record, including numerous large stone quarries, multiple ritual structures and substantial dwellings. Our archaeological research revealed unknown aspects, such as the scale of Mithaka quarrying, which could stimulate re-evaluation of Aboriginal socio-economic systems in parts of ancient Australia.

Bioarchaeological research in Australia has lagged behind that in other regions due to understandable concerns arising from the disregard of Indigenous Australians rights over their ancestors’ remains. To improve this situation, bioarchaeologists working in Australia need to employ more community-oriented approaches to research. This paper reports a project in which we employed such an approach. The project focused on burials in the Flinders Group, Queensland. Traditional Owners played a key role in the excavations and helped devise analyses that would deliver both scientific contributions and socially relevant outcomes. The fieldwork and laboratory analyses yielded a number of interesting results. Most significantly, they revealed that the pattern of mortuary practices recorded by ethnographers in the region in the early 20th century—complex burial of powerful people and simple interment of less important individuals—has a time depth of several hundred years or more. More generally, the project shows that there can be fruitful collaboration between archaeologists and Indigenous communities in relation to the excavation and scientific analysis of Aboriginal ancestral remains.

Homo erectus is the founding early hominin species of Island Southeast Asia, and reached Java (Indonesia) more than 1.5 million years ago1,2. Twelve H. erectus calvaria (skull caps) and two tibiae (lower leg bones) were discovered from a bone bed located about 20 m above the Solo River at Ngandong (Central Java) between 1931 and 19333,4, and are of the youngest, most-advanced form of H. erectus5–8. Despite the importance of the Ngandong fossils, the relationship between the fossils, terrace fill and ages have been heavily debated9–14. Here, to resolve the age of the Ngandong evidence, we use Bayesian modelling of 52 radiometric age estimates to establish—to our knowledge—the first robust chronology at regional, valley and local scales. We used uranium-series dating of speleothems to constrain regional landscape evolution; luminescence, 40argon/39argon (40Ar/39Ar) and uranium-series dating to constrain the sequence of terrace evolution; and applied uranium-series and uranium series–electron-spin resonance (US–ESR) dating to non-human fossils to directly date our re-excavation of Ngandong5,15. We show that at least by 500 thousand years ago (ka) the Solo River was diverted into the Kendeng Hills, and that it formed the Solo terrace sequence between 316 and 31 ka and the Ngandong terrace between about 140 and 92 ka. Non-human fossils recovered during the re-excavation of Ngandong date to between 109 and 106 ka (uranium-series minimum)16 and 134 and 118 ka (US–ESR), with modelled ages of 117 to 108 thousand years (kyr) for the H. erectus bone bed, which accumulated during flood conditions3,17. These results negate the extreme ages that have been proposed for the site and solidify Ngandong as the last known occurrence of this long-lived species. Bayesian modelling of radiometric age estimates provides a robust chronology for Homo erectus at Ngandong (Java), confirming that this site currently represents the last known occurrence of this species.

Isotopic analyses of human remains have the potential to alter our understanding of prehistoric lifeways and migration in Australia, but very few such analyses have been conducted in the country to date. Here, we report the first regional multiproxy isotope study of pre-contact human remains from Australia. We obtained δ13Ccollagen, δ15Ncollagen, δ18Obioapatite, δ13Cbioapatite and 87Sr/86Sr isotope values from three complex interments and two simple beach burials from the Flinders Group of Islands, Queensland. The study had two goals. One was to assess how the diets of the individuals compared to those of pre-contact populations elsewhere in the region. The other goal was to test the hypothesis that burial type was indicative of local/non-local status. We found that the individuals’ diets were diverse and included a relatively high percentage of low trophic level foods. With regard to the difference in burial practices, we found those afforded complex burials had grown up in the Flinders Group, while those given beach burials likely grew up away from the islands. These results highlight the intricacies of the lives of the Indigenous Australians who inhabited the islands and inform our understanding of their pre-contact diet and mobility. The results also suggest that multiproxy isotope studies may be able to aid with the repatriation of unprovenanced remains of Indigenous Australians.

In this paper we outline a worked example of the combined use of genetic data and archaeological evidence. The project focuses on Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula and has two goals. One is to shed ...

The diversity of Australia's mammalian fauna has decreased markedly since European colonisation. Species in the small-to-medium body size range have been particularly badly affected. Feral cats and foxes have played a central role in this decline and consequently strategies for reducing their numbers are being evaluated. One such strategy is the reintroduction to the mainland of the Tasmanian devil, Sarcophilus harrisii. Here, we provide a palaeontological perspective on this proposal. We begin by collating published records of devil remains in Quaternary deposits. These data show that the range of devils once spanned all the main ecological zones in Australia. This indicates that they are capable of coping with a wide range of climatic and environmental conditions, and suggests that they could conceivably be reintroduced much more widely than has been thought possible hitherto. Subsequently, we examine fossils and coprolites from two sites in the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area. These specimens not only support the suggestion that devils have wide ecological tolerances, but also suggest that devils can coexist with native small-to-medium species over long periods of time, which addresses one of the major concerns about the proposed reintroduction. We believe these two sets of palaeontological observations add substantial weight to the idea of reintroducing devils to the mainland as a way of suppressing cat and fox numbers.

It has been estimated that up to 25% of Indigenous human remains held in Australian institutions are unprovenanced. Geochemical tracers like strontium isotope ratios ( Sr/ Sr) have been used globally for over 40 years to discern human provenance and provide independent data to aid in repatriation efforts. To reliably apply this technology, landscape Sr/ Sr isotope ratio variability must be quantified. In Australia, only a few studies have used this technique and they are lacking in detail. Here, we present Australia's first regional strontium isotope ratio variability study. We measured strontium isotope ratios in soil, plant, water, and faunal material throughout Cape York, Queensland, the most northerly point of mainland Australia. Results show a close correlation between surface soil leachates, vegetation, surface water, and faunal Sr/ Sr results with extremely high values (0.78664) associated with ancient Precambrian geology. Our study suggests that measuring Sr/ Sr in soil and plant samples offer a reliable approach for assessing regional Sr isotope distribution, although the inclusion of mammal and freshwater samples is also important to assess exogenous inputs. This study provides an important tool for modern and prehistoric provenance studies and may aid in answering some of Australia's most enduring archaeological questions.

Paleogenetics is a relatively new and promising field that has the potential to provide new information about past Indigenous social systems, including insights into the complexity of burial practices. We present results of the first ancient DNA (aDNA) investigation into traditional mortuary practices among Australian Aboriginal people with a focus on North-East Australia. We recovered mitochondrial and Y chromosome sequences from five ancestral Aboriginal Australian remains that were excavated from the Flinders Island group in Cape York, Queensland. Two of these individuals were sampled from disturbed beach burials, while the other three were from bundle burials located in rock shelters. Genomic analyses showed that individuals from all three rock shelter burials and one of the two beach burials had a close genealogical relationship to contemporary individuals from communities from Cape York. In contrast the remaining male individual, found buried on the beach, had a mitochondrial DNA sequence that suggested that he was not from this location but that he was closely related to people from central Queensland or New South Wales. In addition, this individual was associated with a distinctive burial practice to the other four people. It has been suggested that traditionally non-locals or lower status individuals were buried on beaches. Our findings suggest that theories put forward about beach burials being non-local, or less esteemed members of the community, can potentially be resolved through analyses of uniparental genomic data. Generally, these results support the suggestion often derived from ethnohistoric accounts that inequality in Indigenous Australian mortuary practices might be based on the status, sex, and/or age of individuals and may instead relate to place of geographic origin. There is, however, some departure from the traditional ethnohistoric account in that complex mortuary internments were also offered to female individuals of the community, with genomic analyses helping to confirm that the gender of one of the rockshelter internments was that of a young female.

Paleogenetics is a relatively new and promising field that has the potential to provide new information about past Indigenous social systems, including insights into the complexity of burial practices. We present results of the first ancient DNA (aDNA) investigation into traditional mortuary practices among Australian Aboriginal people with a focus on North-East Australia. We recovered mitochondrial and Y chromosome sequences from five ancestral Aboriginal Australian remains that were excavated from the Flinders Island group in Cape York, Queensland. Two of these individuals were sampled from disturbed beach burials, while the other three were from bundle burials located in rock shelters. Genomic analyses showed that individuals from all three rock shelter burials and one of the two beach burials had a close genealogical relationship to contemporary individuals from communities from Cape York. In contrast the remaining male individual, found buried on the beach, had a mitochondrial DNA sequence that suggested that he was not from this location but that he was closely related to people from central Queensland or New South Wales. In addition, this individual was associated with a distinctive burial practice to the other four people. It has been suggested that traditionally non-locals or lower status individuals were buried on beaches. Our findings suggest that theories put forward about beach burials being non-local, or less esteemed members of the community, can potentially be resolved through analyses of uniparental genomic data. Generally, these results support the suggestion often derived from ethnohistoric accounts that inequality in Indigenous Australian mortuary practices might be based on the status, sex, and/or age of individuals and may instead relate to place of geographic origin. There is, however, some departure from the traditional ethnohistoric account in that complex mortuary internments were also offered to female individuals of the community, with genomic analyses helping to confirm that the gender of one of the rockshelter internments was that of a young female.

This study heeds the call for a ‘truth-telling’ of injustices carried out on Aboriginal communities during the colonial acquisition of Australia as stated in the Uluru Statement from the Heart 2017. Here, we discuss the lives of eight Indigenous people buried in Normanton in north-west Queensland (QLD) who died and had their remains collected in the late 1890s as scientific specimens. The remains were later repatriated to the community before being further exposed by erosion in 2015. With the consent and participation of local traditional owners—the Gkuthaarn and Kukatj people—this assessment utilised bioarchaeological, historical and anthropological methodologies to gain a better understanding of Indigenous life and health on the Australian colonial frontier. Gkuthaarn and Kukatj people were engaged throughout the investigation, and statements throughout this piece made by them illustrate how bioarchaeology can inform on past injustices in Australia’s history, bringing them into the public consciousness and aiding the transition to reconciliation through ‘truth-telling’.

Recent studies have reported evidence suggesting that portions of contemporary human genomes introgressed from archaic hominin populations went to high frequencies due to positive selection. However, no study to date has specifically addressed the post-introgression population dynamics of these putative cases of adaptive introgression. Here, for the first time, we specifically define cases of immediate adaptive introgression (iAI), in which archaic haplotypes rose to high frequencies in humans as a result of a selective sweep that occurred shortly after the introgression event. We define these cases as distinct from instances of selection on standing introgressed variation (SI), in which an introgressed haplotype initially segregated neutrally and subsequently underwent positive selection. Using a geographically diverse dataset, we report novel cases of selection on introgressed variation in living humans and shortlisted among these cases those whose selective sweeps are more consistent with having been the product of iAI rather than SI. Many of these novel inferred iAI haplotypes have potential biological relevance, including three introgressed haplotypes that contain immune-related genes in West Siberians, South Asians, and West Eurasians. Overall, our results suggest that iAI may not represent the full picture of positive selection on archaically introgressed haplotypes in humans and that more work needs to be done to analyze the role of SI in the archaic introgression landscape of living humans.

It has been argued that globally the extinction of many species of megafauna appears to coincide with the dispersal of modern humans, however, with the refinement of age ranges on megafauna specimens it has been revealed that many extinctions are in fact time-transgressive. This appears to be the case in Europe and Asia, and probably also the Americas. The argument over what mechanism was responsible for megafauna extinction in Australia, however, remains heavily contested. This contribution investigates the age of a single articulated megafauna specimen of Zygomaturus trilobus from the Willandra Lakes. The Willandra is unique in that it is the only Australian landscape with evidence for a) continual occupation by Aboriginal people from 50,000 years ago and b) the presence of megafauna. As people have occupied the Willandra since the period of initial colonisation, establishing the age range of this specimen provides a good test to determine if people drove megafauna into extinction soon after their arrival, or whether megafauna and people co-existed for a long period of time. Two independent dating techniques show that the fossil has a maximum age range based on OSL of 33.3–36.7kya and a minimum age range based on U-series at 32.4 ± 0.5kya. This specimen represents the youngest example of extinct megafauna reliably dated in Australia. Regardless of whether one accepts a short (47.5kya) or long (55kya) chronology for Aboriginal occupation of Australia, it would now appear that the second largest marsupial to ever exist was still present for a considerable time after the first arrival of Aboriginal people.

Skeletal remains from a burial in New South Wales exhibit evidence of fatal trauma, of a kind normally indicative of sharp metal weapons, yet the burial dates to the mid thirteenth century—600 years before European settlers reached the area. Could sharp-edged wooden weapons from traditional Aboriginal culture inflict injuries similar to those resulting from later, metal blades? Analysis indicates that the wooden weapons known as ‘Lil-lils’ and the fighting boomerangs (‘Wonna’) both have blades that could fit within the dimensions of the major trauma and are capable of having caused the fatal wounds.

The publication in 2001 by Adcock et al. [Adcock GJ, et al. (2001) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98(2):537-542] in PNAS reported the recovery of short mtDNA sequences from ancient Australians, including the 42,000-y-old Mungo Man [Willandra Lakes Hominid (WLH3)]. This landmark study in human ancient DNA suggested that an early modern human mitochondrial lineage emerged in Asia and that the theory of modern human origins could no longer be considered solely through the lens of the "Out of Africa" model. To evaluate these claims, we used second generation DNA sequencing and capture methods as well as PCR-based and single-primer extension (SPEX) approaches to reexamine the same four Willandra Lakes and Kow Swamp 8 (KS8) remains studied in the work by Adcock et al. Two of the remains sampled contained no identifiable human DNA (WLH15 and WLH55), whereas the Mungo Man (WLH3) sample contained no Aboriginal Australian DNA. KS8 reveals human mitochondrial sequences that differ from the previously inferred sequence. Instead, we recover a total of five modern European contaminants from Mungo Man (WLH3). We show that the remaining sample (WLH4) contains ∼1.4% human DNA, from which we assembled two complete mitochondrial genomes. One of these was a previously unidentified Aboriginal Australian haplotype belonging to haplogroup S2 that we sequenced to a high coverage. The other was a contaminating modern European mitochondrial haplotype. Although none of the sequences that we recovered matched those reported by Adcock et al., except a contaminant, these findings show the feasibility of obtaining important information from ancient Aboriginal Australian remains.

Ancient DNA facilitates the return of remains to Indigenous tribal groups, resolving a long-standing concern., After European colonization, the ancestral remains of Indigenous people were often collected for scientific research or display in museum collections. For many decades, Indigenous people, including Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians, have fought for their return. However, many of these remains have no recorded provenance, making their repatriation very difficult or impossible. To determine whether DNA-based methods could resolve this important problem, we sequenced 10 nuclear genomes and 27 mitogenomes from ancient pre-European Aboriginal Australians (up to 1540 years before the present) of known provenance and compared them to 100 high-coverage contemporary Aboriginal Australian genomes, also of known provenance. We report substantial ancient population structure showing strong genetic affinities between ancient and contemporary Aboriginal Australian individuals from the same geographic location. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of successfully identifying the origins of unprovenanced ancestral remains using genomic methods.

New research suggests that groups of ~130 modern humans at minimum undertook planned expeditions to colonise Sahul via a northern route. However, the necessity of more evidence to test this model reflects a need for change in the way we investigate the population history of this region.

Exposure to toxic arsenic has severe health consequences for past and present societies. This research resolves changes in a pre-Industrial population's exposure to the toxin within an arsenic-endemic area of the Atacama Desert of northern Chile over long timescales. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) trace element analysis of human bone and tooth samples from 21 burials at Caleta Vitor on the Pacific coast of northern Chile has established that the pre-Columbian inhabitants were exposed to elevated levels of arsenic where one third of the sample population had accumulated levels in their skeletal system indicative of chronic poisoning. Coupled with new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon ages for the skeletal samples, spanning c. 3867 to 474 cal BP and encompassing all major cultural periods of the region, these results demonstrate the continual risk of arsenic poisoning over several millennia of occupation at one site. Numerous factors may have partially contributed to the population's inferred poisoning, due to the complex interaction of various environmental sources of arsenic and human behaviours. Increased exposure to arsenic could relate to climatic variability influencing sources of drinking water or anthropogenic activities such as mining and metallurgy or dietary changes associated with agriculture. Assessment of these potential sources of arsenic toxication, including evaluation of modern environmental data from the region, suggests contaminated drinking water was the most likely cause of arseniasis.

The origin of contemporary Europeans remains contentious. We obtained a genome sequence from Kostenki 14 in European Russia dating from 38,700 to 36,200 years ago, one of the oldest fossils of anatomically modern humans from Europe. We find that Kostenki 14 shares a close ancestry with the 24,000-year-old Mal’ta boy from central Siberia, European Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, some contemporary western Siberians, and many Europeans, but not eastern Asians. Additionally, the Kostenki 14 genome shows evidence of shared ancestry with a population basal to all Eurasians that also relates to later European Neolithic farmers. We find that Kostenki 14 contains more Neandertal DNA that is contained in longer tracts than present Europeans. Our findings reveal the timing of divergence of western Eurasians and East Asians to be more than 36,200 years ago and that European genomic structure today dates back to the Upper Paleolithic and derives from a metapopulation that at times stretched from Europe to central Asia.

On the basis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human remains, this paper provides evidence for the retention of hunter–gatherer economies among coastal inhabitants in northern Chile during the late Holocene – at the same time that inland populations were adopting agricultural economies. Coastal diets from the Caleta Vitor region of the Atacama Desert were dominated by marine-based foods, predominantly from upper trophic levels. The focus on reliable marine food resources is interpreted as a risk minimisation strategy in this marginal arid environment. Although these coastal hunter–gatherers adopted other goods and traditions from agricultural populations, their participation in this larger interregional exchange network did not affect their basic subsistence economies. Associated new radiocarbon dates from the site are also discussed. Skeletal remains and artefacts associated with the Caleta Vitor shell middens generally originate from sites with dates ranging from c. 9000–476 BP. However, the human remains that are the subject of this research cover the time period c. 4000–476 BP.

High-coverage whole-genome sequence studies have so far focused on a limited number1 of geographically restricted populations2, 3, 4, 5, or been targeted at specific diseases, such as cancer6. Nevertheless, the availability of high- resolution genomic data has led to the development of new methodologies for inferring population history7, 8, 9 and refuelled the debate on the mutation rate in humans10. Here we present the Estonian Biocentre Human Genome Diversity Panel (EGDP), a dataset of 483 high-coverage human genomes from 148 populations worldwide, including 379 new genomes from 125 populations, which we group into diversity and selection sets. We analyse this dataset to refine estimates of continent-wide patterns of heterozygosity, long- and short-distance gene flow, archaic admixture, and changes in effective population size through time as well as for signals of positive or balancing selection. We find a genetic signature in present-day Papuans that suggests that at least 2% of their genome originates from an early and largely extinct expansion of anatomically modern humans (AMHs) out of Africa. Together with evidence from the western Asian fossil record11, and admixture between AMHs and Neanderthals predating the main Eurasian expansion12, our results contribute to the mounting evidence for the presence of AMHs out of Africa earlier than 75, 000 years ago.

The exhibition of increasingly intensive and complex niche construction behaviors through time is a key feature of human evolution, culminating in the advanced capacity for ecosystem engineering exhibited by Homo sapiens A crucial outcome of such behaviors has been the dramatic reshaping of the global biosphere, a transformation whose early origins are increasingly apparent from cumulative archaeological and paleoecological datasets. Such data suggest that, by the Late Pleistocene, humans had begun to engage in activities that have led to alterations in the distributions of a vast array of species across most, if not all, taxonomic groups. Changes to biodiversity have included extinctions, extirpations, and shifts in species composition, diversity, and community structure. We outline key examples of these changes, highlighting findings from the study of new datasets, like ancient DNA (aDNA), stable isotopes, and microfossils, as well as the application of new statistical and computational methods to datasets that have accumulated significantly in recent decades. We focus on four major phases that witnessed broad anthropogenic alterations to biodiversity-the Late Pleistocene global human expansion, the Neolithic spread of agriculture, the era of island colonization, and the emergence of early urbanized societies and commercial networks. Archaeological evidence documents millennia of anthropogenic transformations that have created novel ecosystems around the world. This record has implications for ecological and evolutionary research, conservation strategies, and the maintenance of ecosystem services, pointing to a significant need for broader cross-disciplinary engagement between archaeology and the biological and environmental sciences.

Humans and human ancestors have exploited wetland resources for at least two million years. The most significant predators in these landscapes are crocodiles, which leads to two potential taphonomic problems: 1) human-accumulated bones may become intermingled with crocodile-modified bones; and 2) hominins themselves may have been victims of crocodiles. Davidson and Solomon (1990) significantly contributed to this literature through theirsuggestion that a crocodile attack led to the tooth marks on the type specimen of Homo habilis (OH 7) found in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. The Australasian tropics were also home to a variety of crocodilian species, crocodile damage to hominin bones being inferred in Trinil and Sangiran, Java. Furthermore, two Pleistocene Australian archaeological sites have stone artefacts in association with crocodile-damaged bone. A referential taphonomic framework is needed to understand the degree and nature of crocodile-hominin interactions on paleolandscapes of Sunda, the ancient Pleistocene landmass incorporating the islands of SE Asia, and Sahul, the Pleistocene landmass of ancient Australia incorporating Papua New Guinea, Australia and Tasmania. This paper provides initial results from crocodile feeding experiments aimed at characterising feeding damage inflicted on bones by the largest extant Australasian crocodile, Crocodylus porosus. Due to close similarity among Crocodylus species in dental and cranial morphology there are some general patterns in the way they modify bones. However, some differences arise when the taphonomic signatures are compared to those of the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus). We suggest that these differences are attributable to evolved differences in the feeding ecologies of the two species.

The Lake Mungo 3 skeleton has been the subject of controversy since its discovery in 1974. Brown (2000) has alleged that the sex of this individual cannot be determined from the available evidence, since the skeleton lacks the most diagnostic areas of the skull and pelvis. In an effort to reexamine the sex diagnosis of Lake Mungo 3 our team collected an exhaustive battery of postcranial measurements from the skeleton. These measurements are compared to a number of Australian samples of known sex, both from the Pleistocene as well as the Holocene. In all, approximately 55 postcranial measurements are used for these comparisons. Many of the measurements sampled for Lake Mungo 3 fall at the extreme high end of the Holocene male sample, sometimes beyond the observed Holocene male range, and likewise fall well outside the Holocene female range. Lake Mungo 3 is also very similar in size to 'robust' Pleistocene and early Holocene males and larger than a known Pleistocene female. These results support the assignment of male sex to Lake Mungo 3. However, they also lead us to question the attribution of Lake Mungo 3 to a 'gracile' category amongst early Australians.

The mark of Ancient Java refers to the persistence of Homo erectus traits from Javan populations in fossil Homo sapiens Australian crania. This paper argues that hybridization of these two species is unlikely, first because the evidence for chronological overlap is very weak and second because phylogenetic analysis (cladistics and splits network) incorporating the earliest fossils of modern humans from Africa and the Levant indicate no close genetic relationship between a Ngandong-like population from Java and 26 late Pleistocene Australian fossils from the Willandra Lakes.

It is commonly thought that human genetic diversity in non-African populations was primarily shaped by a recent out-of-Africa dispersal. Here we present a large geographical Y chromosome study using 459 high coverage sequences, including 302 newly reported here. We date the Y chromosomal Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) in Africa at 254 (95% CI 192- 307) kya and differentiation of African and non-African lineages 52-121 kya. The age estimates for major non-African founder haplogroups cluster closely in a narrow time interval at 47-52 kya, consistent with a rapid initial colonization model of Eurasia and Oceania after the out-of-Africa bottleneck. We find that the highest basal Y chromosome diversity outside Africa has been preserved in South and Southeast Asians while extant Y chromosome diversity in Europe and the Near East stems from a small number of mid-Holocene founders. In contrast to demographic reconstructions based on mtDNA, we infer a second strong bottleneck, followed by a fast recovery in Old World populations dating to the last 10 ky. We hypothesize that this bottleneck is caused by cultural changes affecting variance of reproductive success among males.

Henneberg et al. (1) and Eckhardt et al. (2) present another pathology-based alternative to the hypothesis that the “hobbit” fossils from Liang Bua, Indonesia, represent a distinct hominin species, Homo floresiensis. They contend that the Liang Bua specimens are the remains of small-bodied humans and that the noteworthy features of the most complete specimen, LB1, are a consequence of Down syndrome (DS). Here, we show that the available mandibular evidence does not support these claims.

Results from excavations at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) site of Zahrat adh-Dhra' 2 (ZAD 2) in Jordan promise to resolve ambiguity over the introduction of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic В (PPNB) period in the southern Levant. Zahrat adh-Dhra ' 2 is the first southern PPNA site to date exclusively to the late PPNA period (9 600-9 300 BP/ 9 200-8 300 cal ВС). The settlement is a small mound containing a single phase of curvilinear architecture. It has yielded a range of characteristic PPNA material culture items and practices, including evidence of cranial removal, a varied ground stone industry with cup-hole mortars, geometrically incised plaques and pebbles ; and a lithic assemblage which includes bladelet cores, a preponderance of bladelets, borers, Beit Та 'amir sickles, Hagdud truncations, picks, edge-ground axes, and tranchet axes. It lacks typical PPNB features such as naviform blade core technology, and notched and tanged projectile points. It also bears evidence for a subsistence economy based on hunting, gathering and the cultivation of cereals and possibly legumes (so-called "pre-domestication cultivation"). ZAD 2 casts doubt upon the authenticity of a prominent chronological scheme which places the southern Levantine Early PPNB phase dating from (9 600-9 200 BP/ also 9 200-8 300 cal ВС). Details of the radiocarbon dates obtained for ZAD 2 and their relationship to the stratigraphie order of the site are given here. Nevertheless, a marked plateau on the early Holocene part of the radiocarbon calibration curve renders it difficult to sequentially order calibrated dates within the 9 600-9 200 BP period, and thus to distinguish between the alternative chronological schemes. In the future, Bayesian modeling of date sequences from individual sequences may assist in this regard. Bayesian modeling of the ZAD 2 dates was undertaken here in order to estimate a likely occupational span for the site. This analysis suggests that the occupation of ZAD 2 can be constrained to the period 8 800-8 450 cal ВС. Yet more recently discovered than ZAD 2, a new phase at the site of'Motza in Israel promises to further elucidate the question of the EPPNB in the southern Levant. With these fresh perspectives newly at hand, we review evidence from several southern Levantine sites previously claimed as exemplars of the southern EPPNB. We also examine their relation to Syrian Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites ; in particular Dja 'de al-Mughara and the new work at Tell Aswad in the Damascus Basin which has radically altered our understanding of that site and weakened its pivotal importance as a reference point for the southern Levantine PPNA and EPPNB. We conclude that, according to the debate as it has been played out in the uncalibrated chronology, the EPPNB phase originated in north Syria around 9 600 BP and the southern Levantine PPNB began around 9 350/9 300 BP., La fouille du site PPNA de Zahrat adh-Dhra ' 2 (ZAD 2), en Jordanie, devrait contribuer à résoudre l'ambiguïté existante sur l 'origine du PPNB au Levant sud. ZAD 2 est le premier site PPNA qui appartient exclusivement à la dernière phase du PPNA (9 600- 9 300 BP/ 9 200-8 300 cal ВС). Ce petit établissement comporte une seule phase architecturale présentant des structures curvilignes ; il a livré des indices sur les pratiques funéraires (avec attestation de dépôt des crânes). La culture matérielle comporte notamment des mortiers ainsi que des plaques et des pierres incisées ; l'industrie lithique, lamellaire, comporte des perçoirs, des couteaux de Beit Taa-mir (« faucilles »), des troncatures d 'Hagdud, des pics, des haches polies et des tranchets. En revanche les éléments caractéristiques du PPNB, comme les nucleus naviformes, les pointes de projectiles à pédoncules et ailerons, sont absents. Des traces de culture de céréales et probablement de légumineuses sont présentes (« agriculture prédomestique »). Les datations obtenues pour ZAD 2 sont ici données en relation avec la stratigraphie du site. Néanmoins, la courbe de calibration est marquée au début de l'Holocène par un plateau qui rend tant la mise en ordre chronologique des dates calibrées pour la période 9 600-9 200 BP que la distinction entre les différents schémas chronologiques difficile. Le modèle bayésien a été appliqué aux dates de ZAD 2 afin d'estimer la durée d'occupation probable du site. Cette analyse suggère que l'occupation se limite à la période 8 800-8 450 av. J.-C. (calibré). La découverte récente à Motza (Israël) d'une nouvelle phase devrait permettre de clarifier la question du PPNB ancien au Levant sud. Ces nouvelles perspectives permettent de réexaminer plusieurs sites du Levant sud précédemment considérés comme des modèles du PPNB ancien. Examen est aussi fait de leur relation avec les sites du Néolithique précéramique de Syrie, particulièrement avec Dja'de el Mughara, et avec les résultats obtenus récemment à Tell Aswad dans le bassin de Damas. Ceux-ci ont changé radicalement notre interprétation de ce site et affaibli son importance comme site de référence pour le PPNA et le PPNB ancien du Levant sud. Pour conclure, en chronologie non calibrée, le PPNB trouverait son origine en Syrie du Nord vers 9 600 BP et débuterait au Levant sud autour de 9 350-9 300 BP., Edwards Phillip C., Meadows John, Sayej Ghattas, Westaway Michael. From the PPNA to the PPNB : new views from the Southern Levant after excavations at Zahrat adh-Dhra' 2 in Jordan. In: Paléorient, 2004, vol. 30, n°2. pp. 21-60.

Interproximal grooving of the teeth is a form of nonmasticatory wear commonly found in precontemporary human populations. While its cause is debated, it is thought to be due to the repeated abrasion of fibrous materials across the distal surfaces of teeth during processing. This report describes the presence of interproximal grooves on the distal surfaces of the lower second molars of the WLH 4 individual from the Willandra Lakes in New South Wales, Australia. Although there has been considerable discussion regarding the distinct occlusal wear pattern in WLH 3, this is the first recorded instance of an interproximal wear pattern in the Willandra Lakes region, and has implications for our understanding of cultural behaviors practiced by those populations in the late Holocene.

The study of modern human origins in Australia has a long history. Throughout much of this history, workers interested in the origins of the Australians have often focused on scenarios that invoke multiple founding populations for the modern inhabitants of this continent. These theories have included the Trihybrid model by Birdsell and the Dihybrid model championed by Thorne, with the latter often portrayed as one of the strongest supports for the modern Multiregional hypothesis. "The mark of ancient Java" has long been thought to link populations like the Ngandong fossils to both fossil and modern Australian Aboriginals. More recently, however, research has begun to highlight problems with these notions of regional continuity. This chapter will summarize our current understanding of modern human origins in Australasia, highlighting new evidence that casts doubt on the case for regional continuity and provides support for a replacement scenario.

Joint surfaces of limb bones are loaded in compression by reaction forces generated from body weight and musculotendon complexes bridging them. In general, joints of eutherian mammals have regions of high radiodensity subchondral bone that are better at resisting compressive forces than low radiodensity subchondral bone. Identifying similar form-function relationships between subchondral radiodensity distribution and joint load distribution within the marsupial postcranium, in addition to providing a richer understanding of marsupial functional morphology, can serve as a phylogenetic control in evaluating analogous relationships within eutherian mammals. Where commonalities are established across phylogenetic borders, unifying principles in mammalian physiology, morphology, and behavior can be identified. Here, we assess subchondral radiodensity patterns in distal tibiae of several marsupial taxa characterized by different habitual activities (e.g., locomotion). Computed tomography scanning, maximum intensity projection maps, and pixel counting were used to quantify radiodensity in 41 distal tibiae of bipedal (5 species), arboreal quadrupedal (4 species), and terrestrial quadrupedal (5 species) marsupials. Bipeds (Macropus and Wallabia) exhibit more expansive areas of high radiodensity in the distal tibia than arboreal (Dendrolagus, Phascolarctos, and Trichosurus) or terrestrial quadrupeds (Sarcophilus, Thylacinus, Lasiorhinus, and Vombatus), which may reflect the former carrying body weight only through the hind limbs. Arboreal quadrupeds exhibit smallest areas of high radiodensity, though they differ non-significantly from terrestrial quadrupeds. This could indicate slightly more compliant gaits by arboreal quadrupeds compared to terrestrial quadrupeds. The observed radiodensity patterns in marsupial tibiae, though their statistical differences disappear when controlling for phylogeny, corroborate previously documented patterns in primates and xenarthrans, potentially reflecting inferred limb use during habitual activities such as locomotion. Despite the complex nature of factors contributing to joint loads, broad observance of these patterns across joints and across a variety of taxa suggests that subchondral radiodensity can be used as a unifying form-function principle within Mammalia.

The population history of Aboriginal Australians remains largely uncharacterised, not least because of a lack of extensive genomic data. We generated high-coverage genomes for 83 geographically diverse Aboriginal Australians (all speakers of Pama-Nyungan languages) and 25 Papuans from the New Guinea Highlands. We find that Papuan and Aboriginal Australian ancestors diversified from each other 25-40 thousand years ago (kya), suggesting early population structure in the ancient continent of Sahul (Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania). However, all contemporary Aboriginal Australians studied descend from a single founding population that differentiated around 10-32 kya. We infer a population expansion in northeast Australia during the Holocene (past c.10 kya) associated with limited gene flow from this region to the rest of Australia. This is broadly consistent with the spread of the Pama-Nyungan languages and cultural changes taking place across the continent in the mid-Holocene. We estimate that Aboriginal Australians and Papuans diverged from Eurasians 60-100 kya, following a single out of Africa dispersal and subsequent admixture with different archaic populations. Finally, we report evidence of selection in Aboriginal Australians potentially associated with living in the desert.