Environmental Influences on the Prehistoric Movement of Modern Humans through Wallacea

Summary

Archaeological evidence for early population dispersals from Sunda to Sahul extends back to at least 50 kya in Australia and between 42–40 kya in Timor-Leste and Sulawesi. An increasing number of sites dating to between ca. 41–14 kya on these and other islands such as Halmahera suggest that modern humans were becoming more proficient and spatially expansive than once believed. What were the prime variables environmentally, socially, or climatically that may have influenced these movements during the Late Pleistocene? In this paper, we examine how and why these groups dispersed across this region during different intervals of time, taking into consideration the presence of now-submerged islands, winds, currents, and climatic (seasonal and other variability) processes. The results have implications for modeling colonization routes and estimating seafaring capabilities during the initial stages of Sahul occupation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Exploring Movement on Water: A Global Comparison of Naval Technology and Navigation Techniques

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15315