Shipton, Ceri;
Morley, Mike W;
Kealy, Shimona;
Norman, Kasih;
Boulanger, Clara;
Hawkins, Stuart;
Litster, Mirani;
... O'Connor, Sue; + view all
(2024)
Abrupt onset of intensive human occupation 44,000 years ago on the threshold of Sahul.
Nature Communications
, 15
(1)
, Article 4193. 10.1038/s41467-024-48395-x.
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Abstract
Archaeological evidence attests multiple early dispersals of Homo sapiens out of Africa, but genetic evidence points to the primacy of a single dispersal 70-40 ka. Laili in Timor-Leste is on the southern dispersal route between Eurasia and Australasia and has the earliest record of human occupation in the eastern Wallacean archipelago. New evidence from the site shows that, unusually in the region, sediment accumulated in the shelter without human occupation, in the window 59-54 ka. This was followed by an abrupt onset of intensive human habitation beginning ~44 ka. The initial occupation is distinctive from overlying layers in the aquatic focus of faunal exploitation, while it has similarities in material culture to other early Homo sapiens sites in Wallacea. We suggest that the intensive early occupation at Laili represents a colonisation phase, which may have overwhelmed previous human dispersals in this part of the world.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Abrupt onset of intensive human occupation 44,000 years ago on the threshold of Sahul |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41467-024-48395-x |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48395-x |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Humans, Archaeology, History, Ancient, Human Migration, Geologic Sediments, Africa, Animals, Fossils |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Institute of Archaeology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Institute of Archaeology > Institute of Archaeology Gordon Square |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10193027 |
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