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The time of arrival of people in Australia is an unresolved question. It is relevant to debates about when modern humans first dispersed out of Africa and when their descendants incorporated genetic material from Neanderthals, Denisovans and possibly other hominins. Humans have also been implicated in the extinction of Australias megafauna. Here we report the results of new excavations conducted at Madjedbebe, a rock shelter in northern Australia. Artefacts in primary depositional context are concentrated in three dense bands, with the stratigraphic integrity of the deposit demonstrated by artefact refits and by optical dating and other analyses of the sediments. Human occupation began around 65,000 years ago, with a distinctive stone tool assemblage including grinding stones, ground ochres, reflective additives and ground-edge hatchet heads. This evidence sets a new minimum age for the arrival of humans in Australia, the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, and the subsequent interactions of modern humans with Neanderthals and Denisovans., Author(s): Chris Clarkson (corresponding author) [1]; Zenobia Jacobs (corresponding author) [2, 3]; Ben Marwick [3, 4]; Richard Fullagar [3]; Lynley Wallis [5]; Mike Smith [6]; Richard G. Roberts [2, 3]; [...]

The rise of cemeteries, extreme biological diversification, size decrease, increased violence, disappearance of megafauna, exploitation of different resources, evolution of rivers to an expanded system of microenvironments, changes in occupation. [...]

Aboriginal archaeology has a central role to play among the myriad government agencies and professional disciplines involved in land and water management of the Murray River Basin in south-eastern Australia. In this study, we examine managed water flows against the archaeological record which provides secure evidence of how people lived at the Murray River floodplain wetlands before European colonisation. Seasonal residential patterns and economic activities of large populations have been reconstructed using archaeological, environmental, and hydrological information. The result is a picture of people living in large groupings – villages and hamlets – around water bodies that we suggest are ecological 'hot spots' within the forest. In identifying the preferred locations of village sites, we present the case for modification of environmental water delivery from large area forest flooding to targeted smaller water bodies that form ecological hot spots throughout the river floodplain landscape. Traditional Aboriginal land use in the form of the distribution of Aboriginal sites can act as an environmental proxy to inform heritage, land and water management policy and practices that seek to restore the health of the Murray River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]