After the Last Glacial Period, the extension of the malaria-free areas decreased dramatically. It could trigger the development of agriculture in the highlands in the early Holocene due to the increasing population concentration in malaria-free areas. These malaria-free regions could be stable in the rest part of the Holocene, which could explain the high human genetic and cultural diversity of the New Guinea Highlands. Future models predict the disruption of this stability and the notable decrease of the malaria-free areas in the highlands, especially in the case of Plasmodium vivax malaria, but the upward move in the Plasmodium falciparum-endemic regions also seems to be notable.
Obstinate Overkill in Tasmania? The closest gaps do not probabilistically support human involvement in megafaunal extinctions
However, during the last glacial cycle, between ∼120 and 15 ka, unprecedented irreversible changes in flora and fauna occurred, and in that same interval modern humans established their first firm presence in the landscape. Disentangling the impacts of the first-order trend toward a colder, drier planet through the Late Quaternary from the impacts of human colonization has been challenging, from both the chronological and paleoenvironmental perspectives. We utilize the stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen preserved in near-continuous time series of Dromaius eggshell from five regions across Australia to provide independent reconstructions of ecosystem status and climate over the past 100 ka. Carbon isotopes are determined by the diet consumed by the female bird, whereas oxygen isotopes record the status of local moisture balance in the months prior to breeding.
Of those taxa potentially surviving until more recently than ∼50 ka, almost half are from New Guinea. Ancient DNA and multimethod dating confirm the late arrival of anatomically modern humans in southern China. As with other megafaunal extinctions, the theories about what happened to them include overkill, climate change, and human-set fires. One recent series of studies suggests that the extinctions were concentrated between 50,000-40,000 years ago on mainland Australia and slightly later in Tasmania. However, also as with other megafaunal extinction studies, the evidence also shows a staggered extinction, with some as early as 400,000 years ago and the most recent about 20,000.
Australian Archaeology
Our review of the history of macropod isotopic analysis identifies and proposes solutions to the complexities that have inhibited its widespread application in Australian archaeology. This includes a description of relevant basic principles including ecology, physiology and isotopic fractionation. To support our claims for the considerable research potential of macropod remains, we present preliminary analyses of tooth enamel carbonates from archaeological deposits at Boodie Cave, Barrow Island, located in Australia’s northwest arid zone. Although Late Quaternary extinctions have long been widely debated, narrative reviews have often been the basis of these debates.
Probabilistic interpretations of human–megafauna coexistence based on systematic reviews are scarce. As a result, contradictory perspectives have emerged on the role of human and climate-driven impacts as the causes of these extinctions on many islands and continents. In this study, we show how a formal meta-analytical approach dealing with reliable dated records incorporating spatial variation may solve the contradictory views about human–megafauna contemporaneity on Tasmania. Thus, based on our current knowledge westgate, our findings do not probabilistically support human-driven extinctions on Tasmania through the Late Quaternary. Moreover, by considering the overall characteristics of the systematic reviews, we believe that this meta-analytical approach can improve the quality of further debates and help researchers find better solutions to the puzzle of Late Quaternary extinctions.
Computer code and data availability
ISEA is a key region for potential interactions between AMHs and Homo floresiensis (Sutikna et al., 2016), hybridizations with the Denisovans , and possibly an additional unknown hominin . Genetics have continued to highlight the great age depth of the maritime colonisation of Australia, and its genetic isolation since that event . Establishing that there was a short period of human–megafauna overlap, based on a 46.4 kyr terminal extinction date, is viewed by some to have turned the tide in approaches to the study of late Pleistocene faunal extinctions. It has resulted in many studies focusing exclusively on the period of the proposed human–megafauna overlap between c.50–40 kyr in order to find support for the human-mediated extinction model.
Barrow Island is a large limestone continental island located on the North-West Shelf of Australia, optimally located to sample past use of both the Pleistocene coastline and extensive arid coastal plains. Boodie Cave is the largest of 20 stratified deposits identified on Barrow Island with 20 m3 of cultural deposits excavated between 2013 and 2015. In this first major synthesis we focus on the dating and sedimentology of Boodie Cave to establish the framework for ongoing analysis of cultural materials. We present new data on these cultural assemblages – including charcoal, faunal remains and lithics – integrated with micromorphology, sedimentary history and dating by four independent laboratories. First occupation occurs between 51.1 and 46.2 ka, overlapping with the earliest dates for occupation of Australia. Marine resources are incorporated into dietary assemblages by 42.5 ka and continue to be transported to the cave through all periods of occupation, despite fluctuating sea levels and dramatic extensions of the coastal plain.
By 1849, Tidore’s borders had been extended to the proximity of the current international border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as it formed extensive trade pact and custom of Uli-Siwa . Biogeographically, New Guinea is part of Australasia rather than the Indomalayan realm, although New Guinea’s flora has many more affinities with Asia than its fauna, which is overwhelmingly Australian. Botanically, New Guinea is considered part of Malesia, a floristic region that extends from the Malay Peninsula across Indonesia to New Guinea and the East Melanesian Islands. The flora of New Guinea is a mixture of many tropical rainforest species with origins in Asia, together with typically Australasian flora. Typical Southern Hemisphere flora include the conifers Podocarpus and the rainforest emergents Araucaria and Agathis, as well as tree ferns and several species of Eucalyptus. Prior to the 1970s, archaeologists called the single Pleistocene landmass by the name Australasia, although this word is most often used for a wider region that includes lands, such as New Zealand, which are not on the same continental shelf.
Newtoni at 50±5 in south central Australia (Miller et al., 1999), and terminal dates of 45 kyr from Wet Cave at Naracoorte, South Australia (Pate et al., 2002). Prideaux et al. argue that for this reason climate change alone cannot be invoked as an explanation for the extinction of the megafauna. It is notable that none of these reported fossil megafauna bearing localities have evidence of a human presence either within the sites or from the surrounding region, when the fossil accumulations were formed (e.g. Hughes and Hiscock, 2004).
The name Papua was used to refer to parts of the island before contact with the West. Its etymology is unclear; one theory states that it derived from Tidore, the language used by the Sultanate of Tidore. The name comes from the words papo (“to unite”) and ua , which means “not united” or, “territory that geographically is far away BlackFling “. A new chronology corrects previous estimates for human burials at this important site and provides a new picture of Homo sapiens adapting to deteriorating climate in the world’s driest inhabited continent. P. Bellwood, G. Nitihaminoto, G. Irwin, Gunadi, A. Waluyo, D. Tanudirjo, 35,000 years of prehistory in the northern…
A full explanation for the mechanisms behind these changes remains elusive, but they are almost certainly related to human agency. Plausible explanations include a change in fire regime resulting from human-lit fires, a change in fire regime following extinction of megafaunal browsers, and/or a threshold response to increasing aridity. Of these, the climate change explanation is least likely, given the lack of evidence for unprecedented aridity between 60 and 40 ka, and the successful adaptation of Australian ecosystems to 2.5 Ma of similar changes. The Kimberley region of Western Australia holds many of Australia’s oldest known archaeological sites. Here, we review the chronological and archaeological data available for the Kimberley from early Marine Isotope Stage 3 to the present, linking episodes of site establishment and the appearance of new technologies with periods of climatic and sea-level change at https://chapterxxiiisorority.apps.dfy.buddyboss.com.
The most likely is that extinction happened at different times for different reasons. Netherlands New Guinea and the Australian territories were invaded in 1942 by the Japanese. The Netherlands were defeated by that stage and did not put up a fight, and the western section was not of any strategic value to either side, they didn’t battle there. The Japanese invaded the north shore of the Australia territories and were aiming to move south and take the southern shore too.
Visual connectivity network analyses, agent-based simulations and ocean current modelling reveal that modern humans could follow numerous northern and southern migration pathways into Sahul. Our results support a southern route out of Africa through South Asia with entry into ISEA through the Banda Arc, culminating in an early colonisation of Sahul on the northwest shelf. Our results show multiple colonisation events through other entry points were also probable, and raise interesting possibilities for complex regional migration and population histories. Stable isotopic analyses of herbivorous mammal remains are a powerful and globally applied tool for reconstructing past environments and ecological histories from archaeological sites. For Australia, a substantial corpus of foundational literature has competently established the environmental sources of isotopic variation in modern kangaroo and wallaby species. However, despite the pervasive distribution of these kinds of macropods in contemporary and archaeological contexts, isotopic techniques are utilised infrequently.
Jordan commented on earlier drafts of this paper.Author contributions M.J.M., R.P.S. and R.G.R. planned and now co-ordinate the research program funded by the ARC Discovery Project grant, which includes the Liang Bua project. Ages were provided by R.G.R. and K.E.W. ; C.S.M.T., M.I.B. and L.K.F. ; W.J.R. ; and J.-x.Z. R.A.D. and G.D.v.d.B. analysed the faunal remains, and M.W.M. the stone artefacts.