Re: AUSTRALOIDS
Patricia Lindsell (plindsel@metz.une.edu.au)
29 Aug 1996 00:13:58 GMT
Gautam Majumdar (gautam@majumdar.demon.co.uk) wrote:
: If the modern newcomers (H.s.s) had met an existing population
: (H.s.a, derived from H.erectus locally) in Australia, that would mean
: H.erectus (or H.s.a) was capable of sea-voyage or at least of
: crossing wide and deep water channels. Is there any evidence of
: their technological competence to do so ? Is there any evidence of
: the presence of H.erectus in Australia ?
:
There is no evidence of H. erectus in Australia. The earliest
archaeological evidence of occupation is approx. 50000bp from a site in
northern Australia. (it's very approximate because it is a
thermoluminesence date with a very large standard deviation).
It is interesting to note that the dates for the gracile (often
designated "modern") skeletons found at Mungo are, in fact, a lot earlier
than those of the robust skeletons (eg Kow swamp).
--
Patricia Lindsell
Department of Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology
University of New England
Armidale, NSW
Australia
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