NEW dating of an aboriginal rock shelter has debunked the startling theory
that modern humans were living in Australia before they had even left
Africa.
The dating of stone tools at the Jinmium site in the Northern Territory of
Australia had suggested that humans occupied the area 176 000 years ago (New
快猫短视频, 7 December 1996, p 28). This contradicted the popular
out-of-Africa theory that early humans swept across the world from Africa about
120 000 years ago. Engravings at the site were dated at 75 000 years old, making
them the world鈥檚 oldest rock art.
A team led by Richard Roberts of La Trobe University in Melbourne has now
used a technique called optically stimulated luminescence to date the time of
burial of individual grains of sand at the site. They conclude in this week鈥檚
Nature (vol 393, p 358) that the site is only 6000 to 10 000 years old.
鈥淎ll the hype about modern humans being in Australia before they had apparently
even left Africa has been put to rest,鈥� says Roberts.
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