Even I am happier, particularly as the actual beginning of homo sapiens
trek from the South African homeland began 45,000 BP. Getting to Australia over the next 5000 years
with minimal boating equipment was completely possible. They may even have got to the Americas as
quickly.
In the end I expect hard evidence of homo sapiens globally from 40,000 BP
onward. I also expect hard evidence of
modern type tools to date from around 35,000 BP through 15,000 BP as well, with
some carry over in refugia until we hit the Bronze Age at 5,000 BP. The problem of course is that the further
back the more scant such evidence becomes.
To date we have ignored ‘anomalies’
The evidence to date continues to provide a powerful predictive framework
and never is this more true than when conflicting data is readjusted back into
the framework by correction.
Mungo Man fossil which challenged Out of Africa theory
set to return home
Mungo Man is the name
given to the remains of the oldest anatomically modern human found in Australia
to date and one of the oldest Homo sapien skeletons outside of Africa.
Initially dated at 60,000-years-old and with DNA from an extinct lineage that
does not trace back to Africa’s ‘mitochondrial Eve’, the discovery of Mungo Man
caused waves throughout the world and challenged the well-known Out of Africa
theory. Now, after 40 years, Mungo Man may finally be heading home to be
returned to his burial place in Lake Mungo National Park.
Aboriginal elders made
a formal request to be given the remains on the discovery’s 40th anniversary on 26th February.
"I'm hoping that we will have a decision by the 40th year anniversary,”
said geologist Jim Bowler, who first discovered Mungo Man. “Forty years he has
been in the custody of science at the national university, that's time enough,
time to come home”.
Mungo Man was
discovered by Jim Bowler on 26 February 1974 when shifting sand dunes exposed
his remains. He was found near Lake Mungo, one of several dry lakes in
south-western New South Wales. The body was sprinkled with red ochre, in the
earliest known example of such a sophisticated and artistic burial practice.
This aspect of the discovery has been particularly significant to indigenous
Australians, since it indicates that certain cultural traditions have existed
on the Australian continent for much longer than previously thought.
Dating the Mungo
remains however would prove to be a long and controversial task. From his
studies of the lake's geology, Jim knew that Mungo Man had to be at least
30,000 years old, but dating undertaken in the late 90’s, which utilised data
from uranium-thorium dating, electron spin resonance dating and optically
stimulated luminescence, produced estimates of up to 62,000 years – that’s 40,000
earlier than when Australia’s first humans were thought to have arrived on the
continent.
The findings were
‘uncomfortable’ because they conflicted with the predominant Out of Africa
theory which suggests that modern humans evolved in Africa, and then went on to
populate the rest of the world, reaching Australia 50,000 years ago.
Adding to the
controversy was another study conducted by Australian National University
graduate student Greg Adcock and colleagues, who analysed the mitochondrial DNA
from bone fragments and found that Mungo Man had a genetic lineage that is
both older and distinct from the common ancestor that originated in Africa in
the female line of all living humans, the so-called "Mitochondrial
Eve". The study authors proposed that their results support the
multiregional hypothesis, which holds that traits of modern humans evolved in
several places around the world, and that gene flow created the genetic
uniformity seen today, not a recent migration of a single population from
Africa.
However, in 2003, the
debate was apparently ‘settled’ when a further study, published in the journal
Nature, revealed that Mungo Man dated
back to a much more comfortable 40,000 years. It was also claimed
that the DNA findings did not conflict with the Out of Africa hypothesis
because Mungo Man may simply have descended from a different maternal line in
Africa which later became extinct. All was well again in the academic world and
many breathed a sigh of relief that they could continue to hold onto their
belief in the Out of Africa model.
Mungo Man may not have
given up all his answers, but Jim is hoping he will now be returned to his
original resting place. "A thousand generations later we have the
extraordinary privilege of listening to the messages of that man, of learning
who he was and taking his remains back to his shores and back to the
descendants of his people," said Jim. “The messages from the ancient
Mungo people challenge us to come to terms with the history and dynamics of
this strange land, especially with the rights and richness of their
descendants.
Featured image: The
remains of Mungo Man. Photo credit: Wikimedia
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