Early human occupation of southeastern Australia: New insights from 40Ar/39Ar dating of young volcanoes

Abstract In Australia, the onset of human occupation (≥65 ka?) and dispersion across the continent are the subjects of intense debate and are critical to understanding global human migration routes. New-generation multi-collector mass spectrometers capable of high-precision 40Ar/39Ar dating of young (<500 ka) samples provide unprecedented opportunities to improve temporal constraints of archaeological events. In southeastern Australia, a novel approach to improving understanding of occupation involves dating key volcanic eruptions in the region, referenced to stone artifacts and Aboriginal oral traditions. The current study focuses on two monogenetic volcanoes in the Newer Volcanic Province of southeastern Australia: Budj Bim (previously Mount Eccles) and Tower Hill. Budj Bim and its surrounding lava landforms are of great cultural significance and feature prominently in the oral traditions of the Gunditjmara people. Tower Hill is of archaeological significance due to the occurrence of a stone tool beneath tephra. 40Ar/39Ar eruption ages of 36.9 ± 3.1 ka (95% confidence interval) and 36.8 ± 3.8 ka (2σ) were determined for the Budj Bim and Tower Hill volcanic complexes, respectively. The Tower Hill eruption age is a minimum age constraint for human presence in Victoria, consistent with published optically stimulated luminescence and 14C age constraints for the earliest known occupation sites in Tasmania, New South Wales, and South Australia. If aspects of oral traditions pertaining to Budj Bim or its surrounding lava landforms reflect volcanic activity, this could be interpreted as evidence for these being some of the oldest oral traditions in existence.

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Epidemiological aspects of retrovirus (HTLV) infection among Indian populations in the Amazon Region of Brazil

Cadernos de Saúde Pública ◽

10.1590/s0102-311x2003000400013 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 901-914 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Ricardo Ishak ◽

Antonio Carlos Rosário Vallinoto ◽

Vânia Nakauth Azevedo ◽

Marluísa de Oliveira Guimarães Ishak

Keyword(s):

Molecular Subtype ◽

Demographic Data ◽

Epidemiological Data ◽

Indigenous Communities ◽

Laboratory Diagnosis ◽

Amazon Region ◽

Human Migration ◽

Migration Routes ◽

Modes Of Transmission ◽

Clear Cut

HTLV was initially described in association with a form of leukemia in Japan and a neurological disease in the Caribbean. It was soon shown that HTLV-II was endemic among Amerindians and particularly among Brazilian Indians. The Amazon Region of Brazil is presently the largest endemic area for this virus and has allowed several studies concerning virus biology, the search for overt disease, epidemiological data including detailed demographic data on infected individuals, clear-cut geographic distribution, definition of modes of transmission and maintenance within small, epidemiologically-closed groups, and advances in laboratory diagnosis of the infection. A new molecular subtype named HTLV-IIc was further described on the basis of genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. This subtype is present in other areas of Brazil, indicating that the virus is additionally both a valuable marker for tracing past human migration routes in the Americas and a probable marker for social habits of the present human population. HIV, the other human retrovirus, is still not prevalent among indigenous communities in the Brazilian Amazon, but these groups are also easy targets for the virus.

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Subaqueous speleothems from the Flinders Ranges, South Australia, as palaeohydrological archives for the arid zone

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-16120 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Calla Gould-Whaley ◽

Russell Drysdale ◽

Jan-Hendrick May ◽

John Hellstrom ◽

Hai Cheng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Arid Zone ◽

Regional Climate ◽

South Australia ◽

Middle Latitude ◽

Water Levels ◽

Human Migration ◽

Dispersal Patterns ◽

Groundwater Levels ◽

Flinders Ranges ◽

Ecosystem Changes

Australia is the driest continent outside of Antarctica yet relatively little is known about its long-term moisture history. Many local palaeoclimate archives suffer preservation problems, particularly in the arid centre of the continent, where weathering and erosion leave behind an incomplete record. In an attempt to redress the paucity of arid-zone palaeoclimate records, we investigate &#8216;pendulites&#8217;, subaqueous speleothems that grow episodically according to fluctuations in local groundwater levels. At Mairs Cave (central Flinders Ranges, South Australia), pendulites have formed around stalactites. During the first sustained episode of drowning, the stalactite is veneered by subaqueous calcite, sealing it and preventing further stalactitic growth after water levels fall. Once sealed, the pendulites only record periods of persistent drowning, assumed to correspond to major pluvial episodes.Age data from two pendulite samples collected from close to the ceiling where the highest water levels have reached reveal two main groundwater &#8216;high-stand&#8217; phases centred on ~67 and ~48 ka, coincident with Southern Hemisphere summer insolation maxima. This suggests that precession-driven southward migration of the ITCZ resulted in regular and persistent incursions of tropical air masses to the central Flinders Ranges. Trace element, stable isotope and growth-rate changes reveal that these orbitally controlled growth intervals are superimposed by regional climate responses to Dansgaard-Oeschger and Heinrich events. The results from Mairs Cave shed new light on the moisture history of central Australia, in particular the competing influences of tropical and middle-latitude circulation systems. This provides a precisely dated regional palaeoclimate template for reconstructing ecosystem changes, understanding human migration/dispersal patterns of the first Australians, and the progressive demise of megafauna. We also highlight the utility of subaqueous speleothems more generally as important archives for investigating arid-zone palaeoclimate.

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BACHEEISHDÍIO (PLACE WHERE MEN PACK MEAT)

American Antiquity ◽

10.1017/aaq.2016.5 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 82 (1) ◽

pp. 151-167 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Edward W. Herrmann ◽

Rebecca A. Nathan ◽

Matthew J. Rowe ◽

Timothy P. McCleary

Keyword(s):

Historic Preservation ◽

Large Scale ◽

Drainage Basin ◽

Holistic Approach ◽

Oral Traditions ◽

Archaeological Record ◽

Cultural Significance ◽

Field Training ◽

Field Investigations ◽

Management Capabilities

Bacheeishdíio (“Place Where Men Pack Meat”), now called Grapevine Creek in English, is the subject of Crow oral traditions that document the cultural significance of the landscape and celebrate centuries of bison hunting in the drainage. We report an ongoing, community-based project that integrates archaeological field training and research goals into a collaborative indigenous archaeology project supporting the expressed goal of the Crow Tribal Historic Preservation Office to prepare a district-level nomination for the Grapevine Creek drainage basin. This paper describes findings from field investigations that document buffalo jump locales, a previously unreported bison bonebed, and associated archaeological features in the drainage, grounding Crow oral traditions that document buffalo jumps and large-scale bison hunts firmly into the landscape. We take a holistic approach that incorporates multiple lines of evidence to assess the archaeological record associated with bison jumps and bison hunting on the Crow Reservation in southern Montana. Results of this project include an enriched understanding of the Grapevine Creek archaeological record, greater awareness of buffalo hunting strategies on the northwest Plains, and, through field training, enhanced cultural resource management capabilities for the Crow Tribal Historic Preservation Office.

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Potential Effects of the Loss of Native Grasses on Grassland Invertebrate Diversity in Southeastern Australia

International Journal of Ecology ◽

10.1155/2014/202056 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2014 ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Roger Edgcumbe Clay

Keyword(s):

South Australia ◽

Grass Cover ◽

Native Plant ◽

Native Grass ◽

Native Plant Species ◽

Grassland Community ◽

European Settlement ◽

Southeastern Australia ◽

Invertebrate Diversity ◽

Invertebrate Biodiversity

Reduction in area of the southeastern temperate grasslands of Australia since European settlement has been accompanied by degradation of remaining remnants by various factors, including the replacement of native plant species by introduced ones. There are suggestions that these replacements have had deleterious effects on the invertebrate grassland community, but there is little evidence to support these suggestions. In the eastern Adelaide Hills of South Australia, four grassland invertebrate sampling areas, in close proximity, were chosen to be as similar as possible except for the visible amount of native grass they contained. Sample areas were surveyed in four periods (summer, winter, spring, and a repeat summer) using pitfall traps and sweep-netting. A vegetation cover survey was conducted in spring. Morphospecies richness and Fisher’s alpha were compared and showed significant differences between sample areas, mainly in the summer periods. Regression analyses between morphospecies richness and various features of the groundcover/surface showed a strong positive and logical association between native grass cover and morphospecies richness. Two other associations with richness were less strong and lacked a logical explanation. If the suggested direct effect of native grass cover on invertebrate diversity is true, it has serious implications for the conservation of invertebrate biodiversity.

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Geography, Islands and Migration in an Era of Global Mobility

Island Studies Journal ◽

10.24043/isj.228 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 53-84

Author(s):

Russell King

Keyword(s):

Human Migration ◽

Migration Studies ◽

Migration Routes ◽

Global Era ◽

Global Mobility ◽

Time Space ◽

Migration Dynamics ◽

And Migration ◽

Changing Role

This paper examines the changing role of islands in the age of globalization and in an era of enhanced and diversified mobility. There are many types of islands, many metaphors of insularity, and many types of migration, so the interactions are far from simple. The ‘mobilities turn’ in migration studies recognizes the diversification in motivations and time-space regimes of human migration. After brief reviews of island studies and of migration studies, and the power of geography to capture and distil the interdisciplinarity and relationality of these two study domains, the paper explores various facets of the generally intense engagement that islands have with migration. Two particular scenarios are identified for islands and migration in the global era: the heuristic role of islands as ‘spatial laboratories’ for the study of diverse migration processes in microcosm; and the way in which, especially in the Mediterranean and near-Atlantic regions, islands have become critical locations in the geopolitics of irregular migration routes. The case of Malta is taken to illustrate some of these new insular migration dynamics.

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Jejak Budaya Paleolitik di Pulau Seram: Kajian Migrasi Manusia Awal di Wilayah Indonesia Timur

Kapata Arkeologi ◽

10.24832/kapata.v12i1.324 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 71

Author(s):

Nfn Jatmiko ◽

Muhammad Al Mujabuddawat

Keyword(s):

Stone Tools ◽

Homo Erectus ◽

Research Centre ◽

Human Occupation ◽

Migration Routes ◽

The Past ◽

Pleistocene Period ◽

Strategic Role

The province of Maluku is consists of number of islands (including Seram island) is served as of the areas in the eastern part of Indonesia that have a key role for study of life in the past. Geographically position as the bordered area between Australia and Irian island has played a strategic role as the routes for human and faunal migration. An indication for ancient human occupation in this areas has been shwoed by the presence of cultural remains of Palaeolithic tools. Palaeolithic culture (palaeo=ancient; lithic/lithos=stone) is stone tools used by Homo erectus from the Pleistocene period. The Palaeolithic cultural remains from Seram island is very limitedly known; and the results of archaeological researches by Puslit Arkenas (National Research Centre for Archaeology) in 2012 has been found of Palaeolithic tools on this areas. This fact proves that Seram island has interesting for migration routes of human ancient occupation and their culture in the eastern part of Indonesia. Study of palaeolithic culture used by comparative-exsplorative methods (contextual) and technologic overview. Provinsi Maluku yang terdiri beberapa kepulauan (salah satunya Pulau Seram) merupakan salah satu wilayah di Indonesia Timur yang mempunyai peranan penting dalam mengungkap sejarah kehidupan masa lalu. Secara geografis, posisi keletakannya yang sangat strategis di antara Pulau Irian dan benua Australia merupakan jalur lintasan migrasi bagi manusia dan fauna. Salah satu tujuan untuk mengetahui proses kedatangan awal manusia di wilayah ini adalah melalui tinggalan budayanya, yaitu alat-alat Paleolitik. Budaya Paleolitik (paleo = tua; litik/lithos = batu) adalah perkakas dari batu yang diduga digunakan oleh manusia awal (Homo erectus) sejak munculnya di muka bumi pada Kala Pleistosen. Tinggalan budaya Paleolitik di Pulau Seram selama ini sangat jarang sekali informasinya, namun hasil penelitian yang dilakukan oleh Puslit Arkenas pada tahun 2012 telah membuktikan adanya temuan alat-alat batu tua di wilayah ini. Bukti-bukti temuan ini menunjukkan bahwa Pulau Seram mempunyai peranan yang penting sebagai jalur migrasi manusia awal dan budayanya di wilayah Indonesia Timur. Kajian budaya paleolitik ini mempergunakan metode eksploratif-komparatif (kontekstual) dan pengamatan teknologis.

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Genomics of Mesolithic Scandinavia reveal colonization routes and high-latitude adaptation

10.1101/164400 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Torsten Günther ◽

Helena Malmström ◽

Emma M. Svensson ◽

Ayça Omrak ◽

Federico Sánchez-Quinto ◽

...

Keyword(s):

North Atlantic ◽

High Latitude ◽

Atlantic Coast ◽

Stone Tool ◽

Strong Continuity ◽

Migration Routes ◽

Hunter Gatherers ◽

High Frequencies ◽

Last Glaciation ◽

East West

AbstractScandinavia was one of the last geographic areas in Europe to become habitable for humans after the last glaciation. However, the origin(s) of the first colonizers and their migration routes remain unclear. We sequenced the genomes, up to 57x coverage, of seven hunter-gatherers excavated across Scandinavia and dated to 9,500-6,000 years before present. Surprisingly, among the Scandinavian Mesolithic individuals, the genetic data display an east-west genetic gradient that opposes the pattern seen in other parts of Mesolithic Europe. This result suggests that Scandinavia was initially colonized following two different routes: one from the south, the other from the northeast. The latter followed the ice-free Norwegian north Atlantic coast, along which novel and advanced pressure-blade stone-tool techniques may have spread. These two groups met and mixed in Scandinavia, creating a genetically diverse population, which shows patterns of genetic adaptation to high latitude environments. These adaptations include high frequencies of low pigmentation variants and a gene-region associated with physical performance, which shows strong continuity into modern-day northern Europeans.

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The occurrence of the yellow-footed antechinus Antechinus flavipes in remnant linear habitats in north-eastern Victoria.

Australian Mammalogy ◽

10.1071/am03097 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 97 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

der Ree R van

Keyword(s):

Agricultural Landscape ◽

South Australia ◽

Southeastern Australia ◽

Linear Habitats ◽

South Wales ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

Temperate Woodlands ◽

North Eastern ◽

Antechinus Stuartii ◽

Antechinus Agilis

THE yellow-footed Antechinus Antechinus flavipes is distributed from South Australia, through central Victoria, New South Wales and into Queensland as well as in south-western Australia (Van Dyck 1998). In south-eastern Australia, the conservation of A. flavipes is not assured because its range largely corresponds with the temperate woodlands that have undergone extensive clearing and degradation (Menkhorst 1995). Despite this, no studies on the effects of the loss and fragmentation of habitat on A. flavipes have been published in the scientific literature. In contrast, numerous ecological studies that investigate the consequences of anthropogenic disturbance have been undertaken on its congeners, the brown antechinus Antechinus stuartii and agile antechinus Antechinus agilis (e.g., Bennett 1987; Downes et al. 1997; Knight and Fox 2000). These studies indicate that the abundance of these species may be influenced by patch size (Bennett 1987; Dunstan and Fox 1996), distance to large forest blocks (Downes et al. 1997), habitat structure (Knight and Fox 2000) and degree of tolerance to modified habitats that surround the patch (Knight and Fox 2000). Can the response of A. stuartii and A. agilis be used to predict how the loss, fragmentation and degradation of habitat may affect A. flavipes? In this note, I provide preliminary information about a population of A. flavipes occupying linear fragments of woodland in an agricultural landscape in southeastern Australia.

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Preservation of late Palaeozoic glacial rock surfaces by burial prior to Cenozoic exhumation, Fleurieu Peninsula, southeastern Australia

Journal of the Geological Society ◽

10.1144/jgs2020-250 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. jgs2020-250

Author(s):

Simon P. Holford ◽

Paul F. Green ◽

Ian R. Duddy ◽

Richard R. Hillis ◽

Steven M. Hill ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sedimentary Cover ◽

South Australia ◽

Early Permian ◽

Glacial Erosion ◽

Metasedimentary Rocks ◽

Southeastern Australia ◽

Australian Continent ◽

Geomorphic Features ◽

Granitic Intrusions ◽

Early Palaeozoic

The antiquity of the Australian landscape has long been the subject of debate, with some studies inferring extraordinary longevity (>108 Myr) for some subaerial landforms dating back to the early Palaeozoic. A number of early Permian glacial erosion surfaces in the Fleurieu Peninsula, southeastern Australia, provide an opportunity to test the notion of long-term subaerial emergence, and thus tectonic and geomorphic stability, of parts of the Australian continent. Here we present results of apatite fission-track analysis (AFTA) applied to a suite of samples collected from localities where glacial erosion features of early Permian age are developed. Our synthesis of AFTA results with geological data reveals four cooling episodes (C1-4), which are interpreted to represent distinct stages of exhumation. These episodes occurred during the Ediacaran to Ordovician (C1), mid-Carboniferous (C2), Permian to mid-Triassic (C3) and Eocene to Oligocene (C4).The interpretation of AFTA results indicates that the Neoproterozoic-Lower Palaeozoic metasedimentary rocks and granitic intrusions upon which the glacial rock surfaces generally occur were exhumed to the surface by the latest Carboniferous-earliest Permian during episodes C2 and/or C3, possibly as a far-field response to the intraplate Alice Springs Orogeny. The resulting landscapes were sculpted by glacial erosive processes. Our interpretation of AFTA results suggests that the erosion surfaces and overlying Permian sedimentary rocks were subsequently heated to between ∼60 and 80°C, which we interpret as recording burial by a sedimentary cover comprising Permian and younger strata, roughly 1 kilometre in thickness. This interpretation is consistent with existing thermochronological datasets from this region, and also with palynological and geochronological datasets from sediments in offshore Mesozoic-Cenozoic-age basins along the southern Australian margin that indicate substantial recycling of Permian-Cretaceous sediments. We propose that the exhumation which led to the contemporary exposure of the glacial erosion features began during the Eocene to Oligocene (episode C4), during the initial stages of intraplate deformation that has shaped the Mt Lofty and Flinders Ranges in South Australia. Our findings are consistent with several recent studies, which suggest that burial and exhumation has played a key role in the preservation and contemporary re-exposure of Gondwanan geomorphic features in the Australian landscape.

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Climate driven mobility of the early humans in SW Asia: Preliminary evidence from Iranian Stalagmites

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-19608 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Arash Sharifi ◽

Ali Pourmand ◽

Mehterian Sevag ◽

Peter Swart ◽

Larry Peterson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Near East ◽

Human Mobility ◽

Preliminary Evidence ◽

Human Migration ◽

Migration Routes ◽

Iranian Plateau ◽

Early Results ◽

Northwest Iran ◽

The Impact ◽

Early Human

The dynamic interaction between synoptic systems across the Iranian Plateau in West Asia has made this region highly sensitive to climate change.&#160;&#160; Early human migration routes in the region from Africa to Eurasia are marked by Paleolithic sites and provide a unique opportunity to study the impact of climate variability on early human mobility and settlement. Preliminary results are based on &#948;18O and elemental time series from three stalagmites in central-northwest Iran with robust U-Th chronology over the last 450,00 years The data raise the possibility that the Iranian Plateau experienced several episodes of wet conditions during the Paleolithic period. This is in line with findings from a compilation of independent proxy records of lake sediment in northwest Iran and loess deposits in northeast Iran. The fluctuation of Mn abundance and &#948;18O values in these stalagmites correlate with the Greenland ice core record (NGRIP) and coincide with periods of high solar intensity in the northern hemisphere. These early results indicate wet conditions may have prevailed over the Iranian Plateau during marine isotope stages MIS5a,b, MIS5c, MIS5e, MIS6b, MIS6d-e and most likely also during stages MIS3-4 and MIS7a. Early human occupation of the Southern Caucasus, Zagros, and the Near East regions coincides with the upper Pleistocene wet periods. The co-variability between the proxy data from these speleothems and solar insolation at 30&#176;N suggests that early human settlements/occupations may have been more prevalent along coastal regions of the Near East during dry climate episodes.

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